John Evelyn, Cook: The Manuscript Recipe Book of John Evelyn

Containing over 300 culinary recipes, this work by the celebrated 17th-century diarist and man of letters, John Evelyn, is one of a series of Evelyn’s miscellaneous writings on matters concerning gardening, estate management and cookery. The book has been transcribed from a manuscript book of recipes - many of them in Evelyn’s own hand - for the kitchen and the sick room. The recipes reflect the practices of the Evelyn family at Wotton in Surrey. They are also the product of John Evelyn’s own travels through Europe during the years of the Civil War and the Interregnum, and those of his friends and relations who were diplomatic representatives in France and Spain. Many of the recipes are attributed, including one for gooseberry wine given to Evelyn by Sir Christopher Wren, and another for Spanish olio given him by the English Ambassador to Madrid, Sir Arthur Hopton.