I was in Soho today to get a massage in an attempt to get my headache removed. Walking down Charing Cross Road afterwards I popped into one of the second hand bookshops there and was lucky enough to find a copy of a booked that first belonged to Alison Harvey at Xmas in 1943 if the inscription is to be believed. There is a nice notice inside “THE TYPOGRAPHY AND BINDING OF THIS BOOK CONFORM TO THE AUTHORIZED ECONOMY STANDARD”. With a Z. Like Liza with a Z and not Lisa with an S. How strange for a British Wartime Book.

Anyway, the book is John Fothergill’s COOKERY BOOK with pages in it dedicated to ENTREES: broad beans, au gratin, cauliflower, cheese rice. EGG SAUCES: asparagus, anchovy, beetroot, cheese, haddock, kipper…

BUTTERED EGGS

Done hard with graetd onions and chopped fine.

EGG RAIN

The egg is whill whisked in a cup with some milk, pepper adn salt, and whipped into the soup when it is boiling. Continue to boil for a minute.

This book is both amazing and hilarious.

John Fothergill was a well-known author and innkeeper. If he liked you he would go to great lengths to make you welcome; if he thought you were unworthy of his hospitality, he wasted no time in making that clear.

My new hero.