The Food Lovers' Cookbook Collection
Eliza Acton
Eliza Acton was born in 1799 and raised in Ipswich in East Anglia where she was possibly influenced by her father who was in the beer and wine trade.
At the tender age of 18 she opened a 'finishing school' which taught deportment and the management of the household. She spent some time in France and became deeply respectful of French cooking.
Alper claims that Eliza Acton "really wanted to be a poet, but her publisher convinced her that there was no market for poems by maiden ladies, but there was one for a good, sensible cookery book. She took this advice, which proved to be sound - the book was a classic for years."
Her first cookery book was published in 1845 and was revised and expanded and published as Modern Cookery for Private Families in 1855. In the preface of this edition, Eliza complains about authors who had been plagiarising her works.
She went on to publish one more book two years later before her death in 1859.
The Cookbook Collection entry
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