Originally published 1911 | ||
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The Grocer's Encyclopedia (New York City, 1911) is a book about the growing, preparation, and marketing of foods that was written and published by Artemas Ward, an author and an advertising and marketing innovator who also developed several other successful businesses that brought him great wealth with which he was very generous, becoming noted as a philanthropist.
The book also is known as The Encyclopedia of Food and Beverages, as shown on its front cover. The work was developed out of a rudimentary publication by the author in 1882, The Grocer's Handbook, an effort which motivated him to refine the topic into the encyclopedia during "stolen minutes" throughout the thirty years intervening between the two publications.
The encyclopedia covers more than 1200 topics from Abalone to Zwetschgenwasser, with 80 color pages and 449 illustrations in all. The encyclopedia has 12 pages on cheese, 20 on wine, 16 on tea, 7 on oysters. It also contains information on Kosher foods, "new" meats such as Kangaroo tails, Cold Storage, Adulteration, Labels, and Guilds.
The encyclopedia also provides equivalents in French, German, Italian, and Swedish.
The title page of the work is very descriptive:
A COMPENDIUM OF USEFUL INFORMATION CONCERNING FOODS
OF ALL KINDS. HOW THEY ARE RAISED, PREPARED AND
MARKETED. HOW TO CARE FOR THEM IN THE
STORE AND HOME. HOW BEST TO USE
AND ENJOY THEM—AND OTHER
VALUABLE INFORMATION
FOR
GROCERS AND GENERAL STOREKEEPERS
COMPILED BY
ARTEMAS WARD
FORMERLY EDITOR OF
"THE NATIONAL GROCER"
A COMPENDIUM OF USEFUL INFORMATION CONCERNING FOODS
OF ALL KINDS. HOW THEY ARE RAISED, PREPARED AND
MARKETED. HOW TO CARE FOR THEM IN THE
STORE AND HOME. HOW BEST TO USE
AND ENJOY THEM—AND OTHER
VALUABLE INFORMATION
FOR
GROCERS AND GENERAL STOREKEEPERS
COMPILED BY
ARTEMAS WARD
FORMERLY EDITOR OF
The book also has an appendix of 39 pages which contains a list of 500 names used to describe foods and drinks.