Acetaria (1699) was a book with many subjects: the rights and wrongs of vegetarianism; the virtues of eating more salads; cultivating the plants that made them memorable; and recipes for their use. It shows John Evelyn as more than arbiter of visual taste -- his central historical role -- but as one of England's first gastronomes. Acetaria exposes English cookery at a critical moment as it departed from medieval forms and embraced the new styles of France and Europe. Its arguments still have resonance and can be counted as revolutionary at the time they were first expressed.

Containing over 300 culinary recipes, this work by the celebrated 17th-century diarist and man of letters, John Evelyn, is one of a series of Evelyn's miscellaneous writings on matters concerning gardening, estate management and cookery. The book has been transcribed from a manuscript book of recipes - many of them in Evelyn's own hand - for the kitchen and the sick room. The recipes reflect the practices of the Evelyn family at Wotton in Surrey. They are also the product of John Evelyn's own travels through Europe during the years of the Civil War and the Interregnum, and those of his friends and relations who were diplomatic representatives in France and Spain. Many of the recipes are attributed, including one for gooseberry wine given to Evelyn by Sir Christopher Wren, and another for Spanish olio given him by the English Ambassador to Madrid, Sir Arthur Hopton.

Evelyn was at the centre of English social and political life in the17c, friend of Charles II, member of Royal Society. The Diary of John Evelyn (1620-1706) is one of the principal literary sources for life and manners in the English seventeenth century. Evelyn was one of an influential group of men which included Wren, Pepys and Boyle; afounding member of the Royal Society, he was also a friend of Charles II, a Commissioner for sick seamen and prisoners of war during the Dutch Wars, a prime mover behind Chelsea and Greenwich Hospitals, and a prolific author who wrote about architecture, art, arboriculture, fashion, and pollution. In his Diary he recorded the events and experiences of his long and remarkable life; there are also extensive references to his family, including hispoignant recollections of the children who predeceased him. This edition has been based on the only comprehensive and accurate transcription, by E.S. de Beer, published by Oxford University Press in 1955, but the text hasbeen reworked into individual years and months while retaining the original spelling and grammar throughout. GUY DE LA BEDOYERE holds degrees in history and archaeology from the Universities of Durham and London.