The Author, the Bookseller and the Courr Case

Maria Rundell vs. John Murray

Authors

  • Sarah Benjamin Independent Scholar Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28065

Keywords:

Publishing history, copyright, John Murray Press, Maria Rundell, cookbook history, A New System of Domestic Cookery, Formed upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families, 1806, United Kingdom, urban middle class, 18th century, Bath, bluestockings, female education, early feminism, female anonymity, female authorship, domesticity, economy, privacy, 19th Century, litigation

Abstract

This is the story of English cookery book author Maria Rundell and her complicated relationship with bookseller John Murray. It is also the story of how recipes for Scotch eggs, oyster soup and seed cake became the stuff of disputed ownership and how cookery books and recipes came to be valued as copyright. 

Author Biography

  • Sarah Benjamin, Independent Scholar

    Sarah Benjamin is the author of A Castle in Tuscany: The Remarkable Life of Janet Ross. She is currently interested in early English women cookery book writers, especially their relationship to writing and publishers. She was most recently an organiser for the wonderful, Symposium of Australian Gastronomy.

Published

2019-06-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

The Author, the Bookseller and the Courr Case: Maria Rundell vs. John Murray. (2019). Petits Propos Culinaires, 70-85. https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28065