OP: Pastry-Making and Confectionery

Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, ND [c. 1946]. Hardcover. Very Good, no jacket.

This early 20th century pastry book bills itself as a “cheap and reliable book, giving plain recipes for making French and English pastry, cakes, and sweetmeats,” brought to you by a chef of “more than twenty years’ practice in Paris and London.”

While the French Emile Herisse is the primary author here, the Swiss-born, naturalized Englishman C. Herman Senn’s (1862–1934) byline lends a certain level of credibility and authority for the intended British audience. Senn, who worked at one time under Charles Elmé Francatelli at the Reform Club in London, was a prolific cookbook author, one of the founders and presidents of the Universal Cookery and Food Association, and a consultant for the National School of Cookery.

From puff pastry, brioche, choux, and all varieties of tart and pie crusts to elaborate cakes and piping methods, these expert chefs cover all the categories an adept pastry cook or ambitious home cook would require to master the craft. It’s also worth mentioning the appreciable number of bun, scone, biscuit, macaroon, candy, and bonbon recipes.

This edition carries a color illustration for the frontispiece and several black and white illustrated inserts. The book was originally issued in 1923; no printings that we are aware of bear dates or edition remarks. However, we place ours, a stated revised edition, at about 1946, at which point the publisher, Ward, Lock & Co, had moved into temporary offices on Chancery Lane in London, which is the address printed in the preface. Very Good inside and out, save for a dent and tear to the rear board. Lacking the jacket. 

Our copy was acquired from the Sontheimer Foundation Library. Carl Sontheimer (1914–1998) invented the original Cuisinart food processor.