OP: The Finest Indian Muslim Cooking

George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., London, 1934. Hardcover. Fair. First printing.

First published in London in 1934 and later issued in Pakistan after Partition, The Finest Indian Muslim Cooking is rarely seen in any edition.

Written with the upper-class British colonial household in mind, the recipes are methodical and sincere, not appearing to make serious concessions on spice or technique. Chapter headings include birianies, pulaos, breads, khichris, bhagias, curries, bhurtas, kabobs, halvas, and laddos, among many others. 

Though fewer than 150 pages in all and lacking contextual headnotes, each of the book’s sections offers a number of variations and instruction with enough detail as to provide a substantial platform for understanding the cuisine. 

The curry section, the largest by far, includes: 

• Dopiaza—Persian in origin—with mutton, a heavy dose of onion, green ginger, tomato paste, and spices
• Khur-gosh (rabbit) curry with green ginger, garlic, green chili, tamarind, and coriander
• Arvi curry, here with artichokes, rather than the more common taro, aromatically and piquantly spiced
• Paseda curry with beef

The provenance of this copy adds a dash of intrigue, as it once belonged to Mrs. Hill Dillon (whose name appears both on the rear endpaper and the front free endpaper with her address at Hayes House in, Navan, Co Meath, Ireland). Gladys Hill Dillon was married to Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Searle Hill Dillon (d. 1981), Chief Intelligence Officer of the MI5 Dublin District during the Anglo-Irish war. An interesting history for a very rare and special book.

Ours is a first printing in Fair condition. It lacks the jacket, the beige cloth boards soiled and discolored. Library sticker to the spine. Light soiling, dogears, and penciled marginalia (in various hands) throughout. Clearly well-loved and dutifully used. Laid in is an advertisement for antique dealer P O’Hara in Bray. A truly fascinating and one-of-a-kind copy.