Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (Oxford World's Classics) Abridged Edition

by Isabella Beeton (Author), Nicola Humble (Editor)

272 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0192833457

ISBN-10: 0192833456

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An almost forgotten classic though a founding text of Victorian middle-class identity,Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management is a volume of insight and common sense. Written by what one might now describe as a Victorian Martha Stewart, the book offers advice on fashion, child-care, animal
husbandry, poisons, and the management of servants. To the modern reader expecting stuffy verbosity or heavy moralizing, Beeton's book is a revelation: it explores the foods of Europe and beyond, suggesting new food stuffs and techniques, mixing domestic advice with discussions of science,
religion, class, industrialism and gender roles. Alternately frugal and fashionable, anxious and self confident, the book highlights the concerns of the growing Victorian middle-class at a key moment in its history. This abridged edition serves as a cookery book, while documenting a significant
aspect of Victorian social and cultural history.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

`conveys a wonderful insight into Victorian life.' Marguerite Patten, Saga, July 2000

`The book is a great reference for classic British food' Restaurant

'It could well turn out to be the surprise bestseller of 2000,answering as it does the new hunger for real cooking ....[it] exactly captures our longing for a return to the real thing.' Kathryn Hughes, The Observer, 2.1.2000

About the Author

Nicola Humble is at Roehampton Institute, London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Abridged edition (May 18, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 672 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0192833456
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0192833457
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1310L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.17 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1.8 x 5.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,206,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,467 in Home Repair
- #6,819 in Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement (Books)
- #11,174 in European History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
272 ratings

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5 star		68%
4 star		9%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		8%

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Top reviews from the United States

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sweet teas

Soooo relevant in 2018! And my husband is the housekeeper...

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2018

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What's amazing about this book to me is that except for a very few time-based culture exceptions, this book is totally relevant right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm a feminist. My husband is the better housekeeper of the two of us. But the whole idea about how much the home environment matters is relevant--and important--at any point in modern time or history. I'm a Jane Austen fan in search of books and came across this. How surprised I was that this is relevant for me right now. Much of our modern life revolves around the topics in this book. In our modern language you can find it in various forms, such as books, blogs, support groups. Just some of the still-relevant topics here are:

-cooking
-parenting
-home decorating
-relationships
-fashion
-running a home on a shoestring/living within your budget
-how to throw a great party
-how to win friends and influence people
-being a good friend
-being a good neighbor
-good people management
-work life balance
and the list goes on.

Anyway, it's quite an interesting read and has a much broader application than I ever expected. I hope this helps and you might enjoy it as much as I have!

23 people found this helpful

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MarinaVanessa

Dont get the ebook

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2016

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This is a review for the ebook only. I wanted to get the ebook first because of bad reviews that I read about the hard-copy's quality so I could decide whether to get the hardcopy or not but the ebook doesn't have ANY of the illustrations AT ALL!! I needed the book for a dollhouse that I am decorating that I wanted to be accurate so the illustrations are very important but since it doesn't have any it's sort of useless for me. At the beginning the chart of wages is completely confusing because the formatting is terrible.

29 people found this helpful

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GoddessOdd

Great for history buffs and Home Ec fans.

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2016

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fascinating reading, very educational. This book gives highly detailed accounts of the running households large and small in the Victorian era. From hiring a butler or housekeeper, to how much to pay your maid of all work, to how to manage your household expenses, whatever they be, this was a fascinating look at the minutiae of 19th century domestic life. Where else will you find instructions for how rent a nice house, how to write and accept a dinner invitation, what calling cards to leave, and when to leave them. This is a massive volume, and I am looking forward to all of the rest of it.

10 people found this helpful

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trilingual1946

A Fascinating Glimpse Into Victorian England

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2013

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This is an enlarged photo-reproduction of the first edition of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. Along with more than 1500 recipes the book includes numerous chapters on the responsibilities of the lady of a house and of all the servants. If you've been entranced by Downtown Abbey and want to know what the duties of a ladies' maid actually were, Mrs. Beeton explains it all to you and even tells you what the going wages are for each occupation! There are also household hints, an outline of legal matters the lady of the house should be familiar with, sections on care of invalids and medical conditions, etc. In other words, this is an encyclopedic work and explains why it has never gone out of fashion, even though there have been updated modern editions. Of course, if you want to know what the food was like at Downton, or at more modest establishments, and how the Victorians entertained, Mrs. Beeton answers all your questions.

Even though this book appeared in 1865, you can still cook from this book. It's one of the first truly modern cookbooks that includes lists and quantities of ingredients in a recipe and explicit instructions that don't assume the reader is already an experienced cook. Beeton includes a wide range of recipes, from traditional English foods to French, German and other Continental dishes. English food has had a reputation for being bland, but that was obviously not the case in Victorian times -- Beeton has a liberal hand with seasonings and doses almost everything (except sweets, of course) with cayenne pepper! That was reduced and even eliminated in later updates to the book, so tastes evidently evolved towards less highly seasoned dishes as Britain moved into the Edwardian Age and then the post-War world. Finally, Beeton borrowed (or rather, lifted) extensively from Eliza Acton's earlier cookbook from 1845 and this has been one of the main criticisms against her. But Acton wrote when cooking was still largely done over open fires. Beeton revised the recipes for the more modern ways of cooking that were being adopted. By Beeton's time most kitchens had ranges and a few very advanced establishments even had a gas cooker! So this required changes and adjustments to Acton's recipes. Both women, however, should be celebrated, because they catalogued and standardized British cooking and ensured that its traditions would come down, virtually intact, to our own day. Of course, both books also deeply influenced American cooking and cookbooks, so on both sides of the pond we are all indebted to these two young women (both died young) who created the first modern cookbooks.

42 people found this helpful

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Mary K. Fairchild

This is a BIG book

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2020

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You won't be taking this book to read while the kids are at a practice! It's far too large & far too heavy & the print too small. You won't be reading in bed or on the porcelain throne for reasons already mentioned. Sentence structure is a bit odd, so are some word usages. For me, it's a delightful read, sitting at the table with a cuppa.

3 people found this helpful

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Lori L Ward

A massively detailed instruction on proper Victorian life

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2019

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*Swoon* Wanna know the backstory of the Victorian age? This is the book. From A-Z and I mean that quite literally! Shockingly frank throughout yet surprisingly apropos in many regards, this Tome is so thorough it's hardly a wonder the young authoress perished soon after its completion. Awesome

6 people found this helpful

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Katie M. Webb

Household management but without the management bit

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2021

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While anyone has the ability to view this piece on various websites for free, I wanted a hard copy of it. Not just the recipes of which there was many but also the management of the household. I waited and got my 1st copy and it was missing the first 96 pages. That is to say after the section list it jumped to page 97 half way through a recipe.

I returned to book explaining the situation and patiently waited for the new one to arrive. When I got the replacement it was again missing pages 1-96. I have asked for a full refund. I will not be using this seller again. I caution anyone who orders this to consider what is NOT in the book.

The book itself has many blank pages and many pages where you can see ink but no image. Very bummed as I had high hopes this would have been righted in the replacement book.

Helpful

Catso

mostly recipes

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2019

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My issue is that there are just a few household management pages, and tomes of recipes which, while mildly interesting, is not why i got the book. I have a few repro cookbooks already. Still, if that is what you want, go for it.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Michal J.

Extremely low quality for the price

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2021

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This review is about this particular edition of the book - by Benediction Classics, first printed in 2011 - NOT the contents of the book as written by I. Beeton.

I'm sad to report that this edition is a cruel joke in publishing incompetence. What you get is a super light, low quality paper (think cheapest, extremely porous home printer paper), that dissolves at even the slightest mention of water. The cover is thin, shiny and extremely cheap looking. Bends easily. The spine is too small for the book. But worst of all is the binding - someone came up with the ingenious idea of doing a glue-only binding in 1200-page book. What this means is that after reading it twice, the pages will start to fall out.

If you check the attached photos, you will also notice that the combination of too-narrow spine, combined with the glue binding, pushes the book open on its own and puts extra strain on the inadequately thin layer attaching the book to the cover.

All this glory can be yours for 30 pounds - that's nearly Folio Society territory.

If you want Mrs' Beeeton's Book of Household Management, I strongly suggest to buy an older, used copy - you can get many high quality ones for half the price, and they will last you several times longer than this piece of excrement, as at least they did them sewn, not glued.

If you really want this one - don't spend more than 5 pounds on it, it's simply not worth more.

One person found this helpful

jim

Condition was excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2020

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To be honest I was a little disappointed as I was hoping to compare and contrast 19th century language from this book. That said the condition of the book is excellent and the value good and the shipping good and fast!

Jenna

Great book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2020

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Excellent classic. So good to get it on kindle. 4 stars because you can see the print of the previous/next page, where its been photocopied. Still readable. Understandable as its super old.

REllis

Useful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2020

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An historic insight that will make you smile at the idiosyncrasies of Victorian culture. Some useful stuff. Might have bought as a joke for someone...

M. L. Richings

Superbly entertaining

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2010

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Beeton's book of household management was an immediate bestseller when it was first published in 1861, it was THE definitive all round household bible that the Lady of the house and senior members of her staff would refer to for guidance in all matters of running a large household, indeed, running a large household at the height of Victorian high society was akin to running a successful business, so Mrs Beeton was scene as THE authority, to champions of social justice today, the book may make for uncomfortable reading, as Mrs Beeton was the advocate of 'Master & Servant' , but nonetheless this book is a little gem to those who study to understand how Victorian households ran

2 people found this helpful

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