Maria Rundell

Frontispiece to the 1810 edition of A New System of Domestic Cookery

During her marriage and in widowhood, Rundell collected recipes and household advice for her daughters. In 1805, when she was 61, she sent the unedited collection to John Murray, of whose family—owners of the John Murray publishing house—she was a friend.[4] It had been sixty years since Hannah Glasse had written The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, and forty years since Elizabeth Raffald had written The Experienced English Housekeeper—the last cookery books that had sold well in Britain—and Murray realised that there was a gap in the market.[4]

The document Rundell gave Murray was nearly ready for publication; he added a title page, the frontispiece and an index, and had the collection edited. He registered it at Stationer's Hall as his property,[12] and the first edition of A New System of Domestic Cookery was published in December 1805.[13][14][lower-alpha 3] As was common with female authors of the time, the book was published under the pseudonym "A Lady". Rundell wanted no payment for the book, as in some social circles the receipt of royalties was thought improper,[10] and the first edition contained a note from the publishers that read:

the directions which follow were intended for the conduct of the families of the authoress's own daughters, and for the good arrangement of their table, so as to unite a good figure with proper economy ... This little work would have been a treasure to herself, when she first set out in life, and she therefore hopes it may be useful to others. In that idea it is given to the public, and as she will receive from it no emolument, so she trusts it will escape without censure.[18]

The book was well-received and became successful.[1][2] The reviewer in the European Magazine and London Review thought it an "ingenious treatise" that was "universally and perpetually interesting".[19] The unnamed male reviewer for The Monthly Repertory of English Literature wrote "we can only report that certain of our female friends (better critics on this subject than ourselves) speak favourably of the work".[20] The reviewer also admired the "sundry recipes, which may properly be called 'kitchen physic', with others, which are useful for ladies to know, and for good housewives to practise".[21] The Lady's Monthly Museum observed the work was "cheap in price, perspicuous in its directions, and satisfying in its results".[22]

Several editions of A New System of Domestic Cookery were published, enlarged and revised.[1][lower-alpha 4] In 1808, Murray sent £150 to Rundell, saying that her gift was more profitable than he thought it would be. She replied to his letter, saying "I never had the smallest idea of any return for what really was a free gift to one whom I had long regarded as my friend".[12][lower-alpha 5]

Title page to the 1814 work Letters Addressed to Two Absent Daughters

In 1814 Rundell published her second book, Letters Addressed to Two Absent Daughters. The work contains the advice a mother would give to her daughters.[2] The reviewer for The Monthly Review thought the book was "uniformly moral, and contains some sensible and useful reflections; particularly those on death and on friendship".[24] The reviewer for The British Critic thought the work "contains much admirable instruction; the sentiments are always good, often admirable".[25]

Rundell wrote to Murray in 1814 to complain that he was neglecting Domestic Cookery, which impinged on the book's sales.[26] She complained of one editor "He has made some dreadful blunders, such as directing rice pudding seeds to be kept in a keg of lime water, which latter was mentioned to preserve eggs in." She complained that "strange expressions" had been included in a new edition, saying "In sober English, the 2nd edition of DC has been miserably prepared for the press."[4] Murray wrote to his wife about Rundell's complaint:

I have had such a letter from Mrs Rundell, accusing me of neglecting her book, stopping the sales, etc. Her conceit passes everything; but she again desires the reviews to be sent to her, she shall have them with a little truth in a moderate dose of remonstrance from me.[26]

By 1819 the first term of Domestic Cookery's copyright had expired. That November, Rundell wrote to Murray asking him to stop selling the book, and telling him that she would be publishing a new edition of the book through Longman.[27] She obtained an injunction to ensure he was unable to continue selling the book.[28] Murray counter-sued Rundell to ensure she did not publish the book. The Lord Chancellor, John Scott, stated that neither side could have the rights, and decided that it would need to be decided by a court of law, not a court of equity.[1][29][30][lower-alpha 6] In 1823, Rundell accepted an offer of £2,100 for her rights in the book.[32][lower-alpha 7]

32 Ludgate Hill, the premises of Rundell and Bridge

Rundell spent much of her widowhood travelling, staying for periods with family and close friends, as well as abroad.[1] Rundell's son, Edmund Waller Rundell, joined the well-known jewellers and goldsmiths Rundell and Bridge; the firm was run by Philip Rundell, a relation of Maria Rundell's late husband. Edmund later became a partner within the firm. In 1827, Philip died; he left Maria £20,000, and £10,000 each to Edmund and Edmund's wife.[33][34][lower-alpha 8] In 1828, Rundell travelled to Switzerland. She died in Lausanne on 16 December.[1]

The first edition of A New System of Domestic Cookery comprises 290 pages, with a full index at the end.[35][36] It was written in what the historian Kate Colquhoun calls a "plain-speaking" manner;[37] the food writer Maxime de la Falaise describes it as "an intimate and charming style",[9] and Geraldene Holt considers it "strikingly practical and charmingly unpretentious".[10] The work was intended for the "respectable middle class", according to Petits Propos Culinaires.[38] Colquhoun considers that the book was "aimed at the growing band of anxious housewives who had not been taught how to run a home".[39]

Domestic Cookery provides advice on how to set up a home brewery, provides recipes for the sick, and has a section on "Directions to Servants".[40] Quayle describes the book as "the first manual of household management and domestic economy which could claim any pretension to completeness".[41] Rundell advises readers on being economical with their food, and avoiding waste.[42] Her introduction opens:

The mistress of a family should always remember that the welfare and good management of the house depend on the eye of the superior; and consequently that nothing is too trifling for her notice, whereby waste may be avoided; and this attention is of more importance now that the price of every necessary of life is increased to an enormous degree.[43]

The book contains recipes for fish, meat, pies, soups, pickles, vegetables, pastry, puddings, fruits, cakes, eggs, cheese and dairy.[44] Rundell included detailed instructions on techniques to ensure the best results.[45] Some of the recipes were from Mary Kettilby's work A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery, first published in 1714.[2]

Rundell's recipe for Scotch eggs, from the 1809 edition[46]

The food writer Alan Davidson holds that Domestic Cookery does not have many innovative features, although it does have an early recipe for tomato sauce.[47][lower-alpha 9] The fourth edition (printed in 1809) provides the first printed recipe for Scotch eggs.[47][13][lower-alpha 10]

Subsequent editions were expanded, with some small errors corrected.[14] Additions included medical remedies and advice; the journalist Elizabeth Grice notes that these, "if efficacious, could spare women the embarrassment of submitting to a male doctor".[4] The 1840 edition was expanded by the author Emma Roberts, who included many Anglo-Indian recipes.[47][49] The new edition—the sixty-fourth—included seven recipes for curry powder, three for Mulligatawny soup[50] and seventeen curries, including: King of Oudh's, Lord Clive's, Madras, Dopiaza, Malay, plain and vegetable.[51] For this edition of Domestic Cookery, underneath Rundell's statement that she would receive no emolument from the book, Murray added a note: "The authoress, Mrs Rundell, sister of the eminent jeweller on Ludgate Hill, was afterwards induced to accept the sum of two thousand guineas from the publisher."[52]

Addressed to Two Absent Daughters takes the form of thirty-eight letters from a mother to two absent daughters, Marianne and Ellen.[53] The advice included how to behave in polite company, the types of books a well-mannered young woman should read, and how to write letters.[54][55] As it was normal at the time for girls and young women to have no formal education, it was common and traditional for mothers to provide such advice.[2] The book contains no responses from the two fictional daughters,[54] although the text refers to the receipt of "your joint letters" at several points.[56]