8vo. 371pp, [5]. With numerous engraved illustrations in the text. Contemporary black half-calf, tooled in gilt and blind, marbled paper boards. Heavily rubbed, joints starting, corners bumped and exposed. Two sheets of manuscript recipes naively stitched to gutter of title page, early inked ownership inscription of 'C. Campbell' to head, long tear to one leaf (p.255-256), without loss, very occasional chipping to margins, scattered spotting, later printed recipes pasted to blank verso of terminal leaf.

The first edition of an alphabetically arranged recipe book, evidently published to capitalise on the continuing success of Isabella Beeton's (1836-1865) The book of household management (1861). Initially intended by Mrs. Beeton's husband and publisher Samuel Orchart Beeton (1831-1877) to be the first in a series of practical manuals entitled 'All About It', this work was conveniently approved of by his wife just prior to her untimely death in February, 1865. In 1866, Samuel was forced by financial distress to sell his name and book rights to rivals Ward, Lock, and Tyler. He continued to produce Beeton titles, including several 'All About it' volumes (Cookery, Gardening, Country Life, Mother's Homebook, and the ambitious Everything), in all publishing nearly thirty within five years.

OCLC and COPAC together record copies at just eight locations (Amsterdam, Brigham Young, BL, Cambridge, Indiana, NYPL, Oakland, and Oxford).