Quizzing Glasse, or, Hannah Glass Scrutinized (Part I)

This article shows that the source on which Glasse drew most heavily was the voluminous but little known book first entitled The Whole Duty of a Woman and renamed with effect from its second edition The Lady's Companion. The study has also revealed interesting connections between that work and earlier books, and has thrown much light on the manner in which Hannah Glasse set about her task of making cookery 'plain and easy', by judicious adaption of and additions to the earlier material. (There were also some injudicious touches which produced hilarious results.) The upshot is a wide-ranging survey which for the first time evaluates Hannah Glasse's work on the basis of detailed research; and which at the same time illuminates the whole subject of English cookery books of the 18th century.