Isabella Beeton — the 19th Century Martha Stewart

Before Martha Stewart, before Betty Furness promised that we could “be sure if it’s Westinghouse,” and before Heloise gave us her hints, there was Mrs. Beeton

Isabella Beeton (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org [Public Domain])

As with the commander of an army, or the leader of any enterprise, so it is with the mistress of a house.

— Isabella Beeton

In the Beginning

Long before Martha Stewart became a household word, before Betty Furness promised that we could “be sure if it’s Westinghouse,” and even before Heloise gave us her hints, there was Mrs. Beeton.

I first learned of Isabella Beeton several years ago when going through a box of old textbooks and notes that had belonged to my mother-in-law, Eleanore, who was born 100 years ago and entered college in 1933. Her declared major was Domestic Sciences (also known as Home Economics), and in one of her notebooks were clippings from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

Today, 155 years after its first printing, this masterpiece is still significant, and this is why:

• It set the standard for all future cookbooks. No longer would we rely on a spoon of this or a pinch of that. Mrs. Beeton introduced each recipe with a list of…