An extensive archive of menus and food related ephemera, ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to recent times, sold for £1100.
"Some chefs collect cars, I collect cookbooks," he says. "I’ve always been interested in the history of our art – or science if you prefer – and I have often found ideas and inspiration in what they were cooking in the past.
"Cooking is like architecture. There are innovative and modern styles of buildings, but styles also return, and you add to the designs that came before you.
"Collecting is addictive, and I’ve acquired thousands of cookbooks, recipes and menus over the years, some hundreds of years old, some of them from names that I knew, and some that I didn’t.
"I’m fascinated with experimentation and just love cooking, returning to a bit of history to research and then creating my own recipes has always been part of what I do. The time has now come to hand them on to another generation to do the same.”
A total of 54 lots in the timed online sale titled A Feast for the Eyes ending on October 23 came from Worrall Thompson. Pictured below are some of the highlights along with the hammer prices they achieved (a buyer's premium of 28% also applied). With seemingly no reserves applied, some of the items sold below estimate.
This manuscript recipe book from the 18th century was the top-selling lot among Worrall Thompson's items. It sold for £2600 (estimate £2000-3000).
First edition, dating from 1769, of The Lady's, Housewife's, and Cookmaid's Assistant, by Elizabeth Taylor sold for £1300.
The collection also contained some other items including:
A Swedish butcher's block, estimated at £600-800, sold for less than half the low estimate.
A butcher's block from the Antony Worrall Thompson collection, sold for £280.
This vintage lemon squeezer was estimated at £100-200.
A silver plated lemon squeezer with turn crank squeezer, sold for £260.
