Venus in the Kitchen or, Love's Cookery Book. Edited by Norman Douglas. Introduction by Graham Greene.

Bookseller Notes

This collection of supposed aphrodisiacs is considered by Woolf and others to be primarily the work of Douglas's friend G. Orioli. though Graham Greene's 4pp. Introduction discusses Douglas exclusively. The author's Preface acknowledges the contributions of Faith Compton Mackenzie and Sybille Bedford. The selection is strong, not unexpectedly, in fish and shellfish (eels recur, latterly alongside a suckling-pig) as well as offal - testicles, sweetbreads and, in one instance, 'Vulvae Steriles' (a Roman dish), 'that part of a sow'. A section of drinks at the rear provide solutions for washing it all down.Uncommon in proof form - in which it lacks the frontispiece of a D.H. Lawrence painting and the photographic plate.