Mrs Wicken and her publishers, Angus and Robertson

All authors face the issue how to go about getting their work published. This was especially a problem in late nineteenth century Australia where there were few local publishers, and most manuscripts were handled by local agents of London publishing firms. Most authors of cookery books were unlikely to employ an agent to act on their behalf and therefore had to be able to negotiate terms with publishers and printers.

There were several ways in which writers of recipes might arrange to have their work published. Occasionally, a writer could sell their manuscript to a publisher for a lump sum, in which case the publisher would reap all and any of the profits. This might be the case if the publication was commissioned by the publisher. For example, Harriet Wicken’s The Cook’s Compass, a cookery guide published by J. G. Hank’s and Co., retail and family grocers of George Street, and Fish Dainties, written at the request of the Mutual Provedoring Company of Melbourne, were both distributed by the publishers directly to their customers. Similarly, Dainty Foods, published in 1911 by the Progressive Thinker’s Library was probably written on request. There is no record of what remuneration Wicken received for her efforts in either case, or whether she had any share of the profits associated with any sales.

More commonly a writer who wanted to see their name in print would choose to ‘self-publish’. That is, they would approach a printer or publisher and agree to meet all the costs of production, and pay the publisher a commission on sales, in return for the costs of warehousing and distribution, or come to some profit-sharing arrangement whereby the costs of production are taken out of the sales revenue and any profits divided in agreed proportions. The author relied on the printer to distribute and promote the book on her behalf. Books published in this way tended to have a high trade price and were likely inadequately advertised.[1] Print runs for books which were financed by their authors also tended to be small and distribution limited.[2]

A more financially rewarding avenue to publication was to agree a royalty, whereby the publisher bore the costs of production and the author received a certain percentage of the published price on all sales. In this instance there was an onus on the publisher to market the product to ensure the best sales volume possible and so maximise his return. In the case of cookery books, it seems that having already established a reputation as a reliable author was the first step in securing a greater financial reward. 

In 1896 Angus and Robertson published Wicken’s Lenten Dishes on commission and George Robertson personally approached her with an offer to take over publishing the Kingswood.[3] At this stage Angus and Robertson had only 25 or so titles to their name, most of which were either theological, medical or scientific works but they were branching out with active and professional marketing of their publications to the trade and a greater concentration on Australian literary works, such as the poetry of Banjo Patterson (The Man from Snowy River was published in October 1895) and Henry Lawson.[4] Robertson was already on the lookout for a title which would generate substantial on-going sales to provide the income which would allow the company to take risks on works by unknown Australian writers and poets.

Robertson was obviously impressed with the success of Wicken’s Kingswood to date, preferring to proceed with an established publication rather than running the risk of commissioning a new one. He was also confident of its potential if properly advertised, ‘pushed’ and distributed by them.[5] While it is not clear how many, if any, other authors had been approached for the rights to their cookbooks, Angus and Robertson appear to have had considerable faith in the Kingswood.

In a letter to Wicken dated 23 March 1896 Robertson proposed that the new edition would add 50 pages and be printed on much thicker paper than that used previously, ensuring a more ‘handsome’ result, worthy of the 3s 6d. selling price. Consideration was also given to including four colour plates of Australian subjects which ‘would help the work very much’ although the cost would reduce the profits ‘considerably’. Nonetheless Robertson expected the book to sell much quicker that the last edition ‘especially if we give it every attention’.[6]

When Angus and Robertson took up the Kingswood, Fred Shenstone, head of the publishing department, claimed 6000 copies had been sold, that is 6000 copies had been sold in the 10 years since the first Australian edition in 1888, which he considered ‘proof of the popularity of the book’ given that Wicken had handled the publication to date.[7] While clearly Angus and Robertson thought this a satisfactory sales record the Kingswood was no means the highest selling book on the market. Miss Pearson’s Cookery Recipes for the People for example claimed to have run to 13,000 in only six years.[8]

Before going to press Wicken was sent the Kingswood manuscript for revision. Angus and Robertson also sent along a copy of the ‘Presbyterian Cook Book’–presumably The Women’s Missionary Association cookery book of good and tried receipts which was in its fourth edition–with the comment that this book had sold 4000 copies in little over a year. [9] It was also suggested that ‘if there is anything in it you haven’t got in the Kingswood you might incorporate it’, given that ‘[t]he recipes in the Presbyterian have all been taken from other books no doubt re-arranged or re-worded to look new–this can be done again’. [10] It was also suggested that reviewing the manuscript would give her the opportunity ‘of fitting in the Queensland matter’, Wicken was at that time teaching with Amy Schauer in Queensland, and ‘bringing the contents quite up to date’. Wicken did take the opportunity to include recipes for more interesting vegetables and for various tropical fruit but what she thought of the idea of plagiarising recipes from other sources is not recorded. As with most cookery books, then as now, how many of her recipes were truly original is questionable.[11]

Robertson offered Wicken the opportunity to publish on commission but recommended a royalty payment as ‘simpler and more satisfactory in every way’.[12] Wicken accepted Robertson’s recommendation presumably based on her own strong belief in the value of her book and knowledge gained from past experience which led her to believe that this arrangement was likely to provided her with the best financial result.[13]

The fourth edition of 3000 was finally available to the trade in April 1898. Robertson fervently believed that review copies were the cheapest and most effective form of advertising, a belief which would become a hallmark of the company’s promotion of its wares.[14] In all some 260 complimentary copies were sent out.[15] Review copies of the Kingswood were widely distributed suggesting it was thought to have broad appeal. In Victoria for example copies were sent to six metropolitan newspapers including the Argus, Age and Leader, and a further twenty-three to regional publications.[16] In addition Angus and Robertson offered incentives to large retailers to place large orders. E. W. Cole, of Coles Book Arcade, was offered his own imprint and a four-month delay for payment in return for an order of 500 copies.[17]

This aggressive promotion was successful initially. Wicken received a royalty payment for the 1189 copies sold to date at the beginning of August 1898.[18] However later that month Shenstone wrote warning her that, while sales so far were very satisfactory, they were likely to slow down after this first rush and it would be ‘desirable’ if she ‘should continue to push it as you used to do’ and do whatever she could ‘to make the book go.’[19]

In August of 1899 Shenstone advised Wicken that the publisher was not satisfied with the way the Kingswood was selling and intended to lower the price to quit stock. At the same time, he offered to pay Harriet £20 per annum in exchange for the book’s rights.[20] In the end Wicken agreed to £25 per annum with Angus and Robertson having the right to renew the arrangement or end it after 5 years. This revised payment method came into force in January 1900, although Wicken continued to receive a reduced royalty (on the remaining stock of the 4^th edition). In terms of book numbers, this new deal equated to the sale of 1500 copies a year, or 7250 books over the life of the agreement, at the original royalty of 4d per copy, which again suggests that Angus and Robertson was optimistic about the book’s future. On the other hand, the agreement obviously suited Wicken. If sales continued to decline, she was in a better financial position with a guaranteed income than relying on the royalty payment. In the meantime, Lenten Dishes was not selling well, and Angus and Robertson rejected Wicken’s manuscript for ‘Breakfast and Tea Dishes’.[21]

The 5^th edition of the Kingswood, claiming to complete the 19^th thousand, was published in 1900. Thanks to new printing and binding technology, introduced by the printers W. C. Penfold & Co, this version was printed, folded, sewn and bound mechanically, resulting in a ‘cheap but not nasty’ book in two editions, cloth bound retailing at 1s 6d, and paper bound at 1s. [22] This print run of another 10,000 copies confirms Angus and Robertson’s confidence that sales at the new lower price would be substantial. Although sales were initially promising Angus and Robertson admitted it would take a long time for the present edition to be successful even at this reduced price.[23]

As early as August 1903 the publisher approached Wicken to cancel their agreement, but she declined.[24] By now Angus and Robertson was publishing The Women’s Missionary Association cookery book of good and tried receipts. Although no record of the arrangement the publishers had with the church has come to light, this was an on-going arrangement which involved printing tens of thousands of copies at a time and was no doubt financially rewarding.[25] The annual payment to Wicken continued until December 1904 but, Angus and Robertson, having decided not to reprint the Kingswood, did not renew the agreement, finally selling the stereos and moulds to Whitcombe and Tombs who were then free to make whatever terms they could with Wicken.[26]

The final publication of the Kingswood, the sixth edition produced by Whitcombe and Tombs in 1905, claimed to have ‘completed the 30^th thousand’ implying that Whitcombe and Tombs printed another 11,000 copies. There is no record of what financial arrangement Wicken had with them nor any record of sales figures, but it is likely that theKingswood had had its day. There was now significantly more competition in the market especially from compiled books of recipes by local cooks such as The Presbyterian Women’s Cookery Book, Home Cookery for Australia (produced by the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union of Victoria) and Jean Routledge’s The Goulburn Cookery Book, and Wicken was no longer promoting herself and her publications with regular lectures and demonstrations. Copies of the Kingswood were still available at McWhirter’s department store in Brisbane, for a ‘super bargain price’, in 1924.[27]

Although Wicken’s side of the correspondence relating to her dealings with Angus and Robertson is not available, it is clear she was both astute and determined. She obviously appreciated the value of retaining the copyright to her work, was well aware of her own worth, and was not afraid to negotiate terms to her advantage and to hold the publisher to the conditions of their agreement. Jennifer Alison concludes that in the early days the publishers would have had a reasonable return from the Kingswood  but ‘Wicken probably did as well as, if not better, than Angus and Robertson with her royalty payments.’ [28] Over the course of her publishing career Mrs Wicken dealt with several publishers and printers. Details of these arrangements are lost but no doubt she was equally formidable in all her deliberations.

---

[1] MLMSS 3269 Angus and Robertson Archives, Collection 03 Angus and Robertson further records 1880–1979, series 01 Business records 1885–1973, sub-series 01 Angus and Robertson Business records 1885–1973, Box 72/2 Trade Letter Book No. 1 1897–1900, p. 114, Shenstone to Walch and Sons, 11 May 1898; p. 126, Shenstone to Whitcombe and Tombs, New Zealand, 12 May 1898: ‘The book [ie. the Kingswood] has previously been printed and controlled by its author with the usual results–a high trade price and inadequate advertising.’ Without evidence to the contrary The Australian Home, Useful Recipes and the second and third editions of the Kingswood were probably published in this way.

[2] Jennifer Alison, Doing Something for Australia: George Robertson and the Early Years of Angus and Robertson, Publishers: 1888–1900 (Melbourne: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2009), p. 38. My foray into the Angus and Robertson archives would not have been possible without the meticulous research undertaken by Jennifer Alison. For a summary of Wicken’s dealing with Angus and Robertson see Alison, Doing Something, p. 140. Also note that since the publication of this book the catalogue listings for the Angus and Robertson Archive at the State Library of NSW has changed meaning that whilst I have consulted the same material at Jennifer Alison the referencing is not the same.

[3] MLMSS 3269, Box 71/4, Author’s Letter Book, 1895–1897, pp. 167–8, George Robertson to Harriet Wicken, 30 March 1896. Robertson’s letter is reproduced in Alison, Doing Something, p. 296.

[4] See Jennifer Alison, ‘Unsolicited manuscripts received by Angus and Robertson, 1896–1914’, Bibliographic Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, vol. 20, no. 1, 1996, pp. 45–60.

[5] MLMSS 3269, Box 72/2, Trade Letter Book No. 1, 1897–1908, p. 114, Fred Shenstone to Walch & Sons, Hobart, 11 May 1898. ‘Kingswood has up till now been entirely in the hands of the author and the fact that 6000 copies have been sold in this way if proof of the popularity of the book.’

[6] MLMSS 3269, Box 71/4, Author’s Letter Book, 1895–1897, p. 154, George Robertson to Harriet Wicken, 23 March 1896. In the event the colour plates were not included, see MLMSS 3269, 72/1, Author’s letter Book 1896–1897, p. 395, Wicken to Angus and Robertson, 15 April 1898.

[7] MLMSS 3269, Box 72/2, Trade Letter Book No. 1, 1897–1908, p. 114, Fred Shenstone to Walch & Sons, Hobart, 11 May 1898.

[8] M. J. Pearson, Cookery Recipes for the People 3^rd ed (Melbourne: H. Hearne & Co., 1894). First printed in 1888.

[9] M MacInnes (ed), Women’s Missionary Association Cookery book of good and tried receipts 4^th edition (Sydney: S.T. Leigh,1897). 

[10] MLMSS Box 71/4, Author’s Letter Book, 1895–1897, p. 494, Shenstone to Wicken, 12 March 1897.

[11] In 1899 Angus and Robertson provided Wicken with a copy of Mrs Maclurcan’s book, indicating that she took the trouble to keep up to date with the competition. MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1, Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 327, Shenstone to Wicken, 9 May 1899. 

[12] MLMSS 3269, Box 71/4, Author’s Letter Book, 1895–1897, pp. 167–8, Robertson to Wicken, 30 March 1896.

[13] Alison, Doing Something, p. 113. 

[14] MLMSS 3269, Box 71/4, Author’s Letter Book, 1895–1897, p. 171, George Robertson to Harriet Wicken, 8 April 1896. For Robertson’s faith in review copies see Alison, Doing Something, pp. 69–73 and Cathy Peters, The shelf life of Zora Cross, (Melbourne: Monash University Publishing, 2020), pp. 81–2.

[15] Alison, Doing Something, pp. 71, 73, 211 review copies and 59 complimentary copies were sent out. See also MLMSS Box 73/1, Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 2, Statement dated 4 August 1898.

[16] MLMSS 3269, Box 72/1, Author’s Letter Book, 1896–1898, p. 370, Letter from Angus and Robertson to E. W. Cole, 6 April 1898.

[17] MLMSS 3269, Box 72/1, Author’s Letter Book, 1896–1898, p. 370, Letter from Angus and Robertson to E. W. Cole, 6 April 1898.

[18] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1, Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 2, Statement dated 4 August 1898.

[19] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1, Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 5, Shenstone to Wicken, 5 August 1898.

[20] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1 Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 419, Shenstone to Wicken, 24 August 1899.

[21] Alison, Doing Something, pp. 189, 197.

[22] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1 Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 659, Angus and Robertson to W. Davidson, 11 May 1900. National Advocate (Bathurst), 28 September 1900, p. 2, ‘Kingswood cookery book.’

[23] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/1 Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, p. 972, Angus and Robertson to Wicken, 10 January 1901.

[24] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/2, Publishing Private Letter Book, 1901–1904, p. 846, Angus and Robertson to Wicken, 13 August 1903.

[25] For example, 15,000 copies for the 8^th edition were printed in 1904.

[26] MLMSS 3269, Box 73/2 Publishing Private Letter Book, 1901–1904, p. 864, Angus and Robertson to Wicken, 18 October 1903; Box 74/2 Letter book 5, 1904–1906, p. 217, Angus and Robertson to Whitcombe and Tombs, 26 July 1905.

[27] Brisbane Courier, 24 March 1924, p. 1, ‘Advertising.’

[28] Alison, Doing Something, p. 140.

Mrs Wicken's books

Harriett Wicken was not the first woman to publish a cookery book purporting to meet the particular requirements of the Australian kitchen, but she was by far the most prolific of the authors whose works were available in the early years of the twentieth century. Her lessons and demonstrations introduced her methods to countless women while her books found their way into thousands of households, making her perhaps the most influential cookery writer of her time. Wicken was unique among the graduates of the National Training School for Cookery in Australia in that she had already published a book of her recipes before leaving England. In addition she was possibly the first woman with an established profile as a cookery expert to give her name to a recipe book produced as advertising material by an Australian commercial interest. The outline of her career gives an indication of the activities which helped to establish her as a recognised authority. She built on this image with a range of publications.

The Kingswood Cookery Book. 

The first edition of The Kingswood Cookery Book was published in London by Chapman and Hall, the same publishers who produced the handbook for the National School for Cookery, in 1885.[1] It was a small, soft covered pamphlet of 96 pages which contained 171 recipes. Reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald the book was considered worthy of mention ‘on account of the plainness and simplicity, and at the same time the excellence, of the recipes’ and Wicken was described as ‘one of the leading professors of the Kensington School of Cookery’.[2] It sold for 2s and was available for George Robertson and Co.[3]

Written in the first person, her Preface is a warm introduction to the recipes which follow. Wicken begins by apologising for ‘adding one more to the vast number’ of recipes books already published but admits that she has written hers with much pleasure at the request of ladies who have attended her demonstrations. Stressing the importance of good cooking ‘to the comfort and well-being of all classes of the community’ and her wish that cookery will form an important part of the education of girls she goes on to assure her readers that:

the pleasure and gratification (to say nothing of the utility) of being able to place on the table a diner prepared and cooked, if necessary, by her own hands, is so great that no English woman can realise, unless she has experienced it, and having once felt it would, I am sure, be willing to give up a small portion of her time to acquire a knowledge which would prove so pleasant and profitable to herself and her household.

Sentiments which perhaps reflect the pleasure she gained from her own cooking experiences and foreshadow the profit she hoped to gain from furthering the education of ‘the Women of England’ to whom she dedicated her book. 

The recipe section of the book is preceded by general comments on methods and techniques, including notes on roasting in a gas oven written in her engaging voice which is precise without being overly didactic. There is nothing remarkable about the recipes she includes, dishes chosen to be, as she explains, simple, inexpensive, and useful to provide some variety.

After she arrived in Australia, Wicken negotiated with the bookseller George Robertson and Co. for the printing of an Australian edition of the Kingswood which was published in 1888.[4] This is an altogether grander and more impressive publication, with a hard, red cover containing 512 recipes and running to 264 pages. The preface is dated Melbourne, September 1888 and the book is dedicated to Lady Loch, whose ‘kind support and encouragement’ was instrumental in Wicken’s success in Melbourne. The review in the Sydney Morning Herald was effusive in praise of Wicken’s achievement, in particular the menus for twelve family dinners in which ‘the delicate point of economy has been closely considered without destroying the tout ensemble of very appetising meals’, a feat the writer considered ‘worthy of great praise’.[5]

Although Wicken claimed to have completely rewritten the whole of the book to make it ‘a really practical guide to the Australian housekeeper’ and to have eliminated ‘many recipes quite useless in Australia’ the basis of the book is the recipes from the original Kingswood with substantial additions–recipes for jams for example, the inclusion of Colonial Goose and Australian sounding dishes like Melbourne Pudding and Sydney Sauce. [6] With the inclusion of ‘Hints for Cookery Students’ and notes on ‘Domestic Economy’ Wicken no doubt subsequently saw this publication as a more than useful tool for her students at the Technical College and the copy in the State library of New South Wales is the one Harriet presented to the Hon. J. H. Carruthers, the Minister of Public Instruction in September 1889. 

The third edition of the Kingswood was published by Edwards, Dunlop and Co. in 1891, and the fourth and fifth editions by Angus and Robertson in 1898 and 1900 respectively.[7] Each subsequent publication involved some minor alterations and the addition of more recipes. The fourth edition saw the inclusion of recipes for rosella jelly and rosella gateau, as well as how to cook chokos, egg plant, tonga beans, okra and her use of the tender shoots of pumpkin as a substitute for spinach.[8] The Ladies’ Column of the Queenslander praised the work and in particular complemented the publishers on the clear type and the convenient ‘get up’ of the book–its strong, pliable binding which meant that it could be lain flat and remain open at the relevant page.[9] The emphasis on economy and the inclusion of original recipes for cooking vegetables, for jam making and for banana dishes were welcome but the reviewer went on to plead for the addition of one or two special recipes for home-made yeast and bush bakery for the benefit of bush readers. Despite her experience in Australia Wicken was hardly familiar with the vagaries and restrictions of life in the bush. Her recipes were designed for suburban women likely to have access to gas stoves, fresh fish, ice for their ice chests and a variety of vegetables. 

By the time the fifth edition appeared in 1900 the Kingswood was well established as a reliable publication, but it also faced significant competition. In the Australian Town and Country Journal it was ‘noted’ along with Fanny Fawcett Story’s The Australian economic cookery book and household companion and Zara Aronson’s XXth Century Cooking.[10]Rather than focusing on the content, reviews concentrated on the use of new printing technology which meant this edition was the biggest to date and also the cheapest.[11] The sixth and final edition of the Kingswood appeared in 1906, this time published by Whitcombe and Tombs, and seemed to be remarkable only because it was cheap and claimed to contain more than 1600 recipes.[12] The Kingswood was by far the most popular of Wicken’s books and the one by which she is remembered today. In all 30,000 copies were printed.[13]

The years during which she was associated with the Technical College in Sydney saw Wicken involved with a number of publications. Some were small collections of recipes taken from, or variations of, those in the Kingswood. These include The Cook’s Compass a cookery guide published by J. G. Hank’s and Co., retail and family grocers of George Street, Sydney, Fish Dainties, written at the request of the Mutual Provedoring Company of Melbourne, and Lenten Dishes published by Angus and Robertson.[14] She also contributed three hundred of her recipes to Dr Phillip Muskett’s The Art of Living in Australia and compiled The Australian Home, subtitled ‘A handbook of domestic economy’.[15]

The Cook’s Compass and Fish Dainties

That Wicken should be approached by commercial concerns to provide recipes for their publications is testimony to the reputation she had established in both Sydney and Melbourne. Her involvement with these businesses demonstrates that they thought she was a credible and respectable ambassador for their products. 

J. G Hanks and Co. was a well-regarded grocery business in operation in Sydney since 1855 in one guise or another, and confident that Mrs Wicken’s imprimatur was ‘sufficient guarantee of the value of the advice tendered’ in the Cook’s Compass.[16] The Mutual Provedoring Company on the other hand was a newly established (but short-lived) enterprise in Melbourne, formed to supply the Melbourne market with ‘high-class articles of diet for the dinner table’ notably fish, both locally sourced and imported.[17]

Both The Cook’s Compass and Fish Dainties were attractive, hard-cover publications, likely given to customers free, or at least at minimal cost. [18] There is no record of the number of copies printed in either case, nor is there any record of what remuneration Wicken received for her efforts, although she undoubtedly negotiated some form of payment which would have been a welcome supplement to her income from the Technical College and the classes she conducted on her own behalf. Neither book contained new and original recipes, rather Wicken reworked and/or renamed those already available in the Kingswood. 

The Cook’s Compass was not reviewed in the press, but Fish Dainties did attract some attention. A review in the Melbourne Herald damned the book with faint praise, wishing on the one hand that ‘the instructions had been more carefully contrived to suit those who know little of the art of cooking’ while noting that ‘there is very much in the book that will be useful and will help the economical housewife’.[19] More importantly for Wicken, it brought her to the attention of Dr. Muskett. Muskett was no doubt already aware of Wicken’s classes at the Technical College but her involvement with the Mutual Provedoring Company confirmed their common interest in improving the Australian diet. Muskett thought Fish Dainties ‘an admirable production’.[20]

The Australian Home: a handbook of domestic economy

Wicken undoubtedly saw The Australian Home, intended as a companion to the Kingswood, as the perfect textbook for her students at the Technical College in the absence of anything similar developed by the Department of Education.[21]Written in ‘the simplest possible language’ this book distilled her own experience and her readings ‘from many authors who have given much time and thought’ to the study of domestic economy.[22] Unsurprisingly Wicken emphasised that studying ‘the management of the family and home’ was all-important since ‘the comfort and well-being of the home depends entirely upon the woman who rules it’ and proceeded to give instruction on everything from the mechanism of digestion through the furnishing of the home and thrifty shopping to how to light a fire. [23] Generally well received, the Daily Telegraph praised Wicken’s ‘pleasant and unpretentious style as if the writer were chatting with her pupils’.[24]

However, the review in the Queenslander noted:

The space she allows herself is 260 smallish pages, of which she allots some half dozen to certain manufacturers wherein to advertise their wares, an undertaking, moreover, which the authoress herself is not backward in seconding, as opportunity may occur, in the text itself.  Similar kindness is also shown towards one or two vendors of merchandise who have secured a position on the fly-leaves of elsewhere within the covers. 

This practice was frowned upon:

It seems to us … that a writer, although holding so responsible an official position as that of Mrs Wicken, who so far departs from the etiquette observed by self-respecting members of the literary guild proper as not merely to allow her book to be interleaved with trade advertisements, but even to lend her letterpress to commending their wares, can hardly expect her work to receive the serious attention of any competent critic. We may state, however, in the phraseology of commerce–the domain to which, rather than to that of science, Mrs Wicken’s little “epitome” seems to us properly to belong–that the contents, which we have carefully perused, are “fair to middling.”[25]

Regardless, few of her readers would have been overly troubled by the intrusion of commerce into a treatise on home management since recipe books of the time were usually full of advertisements of one sort or another.

The need to recoup some of the publishing costs from advertisers was simply a fact of publishing life. There is no knowing what form of agreement Wicken had with her publishers, Edwards, Dunlop and Co., who issued both The Australian Home and the third edition of The Kingswood Cookery Book, in which the distributors of ‘the various things I mention in my recipes’ are named and advertised in the book. [26] The details of any contract for either book are lost but it is likely that Wicken negotiated some profit-sharing arrangement whereby the costs of production, not covered by advertising, were taken out of the sales revenue and the surplus shared. Again, there is no record of the number of copies of The Australian Home issued by Edwards, Dunlop and Co. but given the limited market for a textbook of this nature, and the fact that it only ran to one edition, it can be assumed neither Wicken nor her publisher received any significant monetary gain.

The Art of Living in Australia

Dr. Philip Muskett was an Australian medical practitioner whose previous publications had focused on the health and well-being of children.[27] In The Art of Living in Australia he set out to encourage Australians to adapt their food habits to the climate. Australia, he believed, would ‘only reach the zenith of her possibilities when her people conform to her climatic requirements.’[28] Muskett advocated eating less meat and eating more fruit and particularly more vegetables. He decried the consumption of tea, extoled the virtues of salad, encouraged not only more adventurous eating but also more imaginative cooking, and argued for the importance of educating Australia’s young women in the art and science of cookery. 

As noted above, Muskett knew of Wicken’s classes at the Technical College and was probably familiar with her recipe collections.[29] He would have recognised her as sympathetic to his cause. For example, in the first Australian edition of the Kingswood  Wicken advocated ‘well cooked vegetables and fruit should be seen on our tables at every meal during the summer’ and recommended bananas claiming they ‘contain three times as much nourishment as meat and potatoes, and as a food are superior to bread.’[30] Her established reputation and her general support for his ideas recommended Wicken as a suitable person to contribute the recipes for his book. She duly provided notes on the furnishing and necessary equipment for the kitchen, the benefits of the ice chest and some general cooking advice along with a total of three hundred recipes – fifty for each of the categories soups, fish, meat, vegetables, salads and sauces, and sweets – all similar to those already available in the Kingswood.

Lenten Dishes and Australian Table Dainties and Appetising Dishes 

By the time Lenten Dishes, a collection of meat-free recipes, appeared in 1896 Wicken’s reputation was firmly established. [31] Reviews of this small volume refer to Wicken variously as a ‘well-known teacher’, ‘the clever lecturer’ or even ‘our old friend’.[32] This booklet was also her first involvement with the publishers Angus and Robertson, which meant that it was widely distributed in the trade and to the press. Anyone familiar with the Kingswood would have recognised most of these recipes, but the significance of this odd little book is Wicken’s continued emphasis on fish and vegetables, and the stipulation that a varied diet is more likely to keep a family in good health. 

Australian Table Dainties and Appetising Dishes, subtitled ‘a handy guide for Australian Housekeepers in the preparation of fruit, vegetables, game, fish, salads, sweets, and the picnic basket’ was also published in 1896.[33] This was the first of Wicken’s books to demonstrably reflect Australian produce and the influence of both Dr Muskett and her son, Percy, who must have kept her informed of his experiments at the Agricultural College. Fish Dainties and Lenten Dishes had already reflected Wicken’s affinity for Muskett’s cause, in particular the consumption of more fish and vegetables and preparing them in more imaginative ways. 

In Australian Table Dainties she took up many of Muskett’s themes, beginning:

Australia, the land of sunshine and pleasant fruits, the sparkling waters of her rocky coast and her swift-flowing rivers teeming with fish, and yet her children living on a daily diet of chops and steaks! Surely this is a mistake, and one that should not be allowed to continue when the remedy is so close at hand and so pleasant withal.

She recommended that housekeepers anxious to provide more variety in their menus need look no further than the more frequent introduction of fish, vegetables and fruit.[34] Moreover, by introducing ‘a variety of well-cooked vegetables and fruit at every meal … the demand for them would increase’ and women could help ‘largely in developing the resources of this country’. Why not a fish salad for lunch or fruit salad ‘on one of our scorching hot days’: 

How delicious it is, and yet how seldom seen; it requires no cooking and is therefore invaluable on days when even the thought of standing over a fire makes one uncomfortably hot, and it is just at this very time of year that the most delicious fruits for salad are ripe.

Wicken perhaps recognised that few housewives would have read Muskett’s book, but they could be influenced by her, and she had the opportunity to take these ideas to a wider audience.

The ingredients she uses also reflect her experience in Queensland where she had been conducting classes and demonstrations with Amy Schauer. While Muskett had promoted the introduction of, among others, globe artichokes, brussels sprouts, eggplant, kohl rabi and corn, Wicken includes a number of tropical and more unusual fruits–cape gooseberries, custard apples, guavas, loquats, mangos, paw-paw, passionfruit, and soursop.  Wicken also incorporated some of these new ideas in the revised Kingswood which was published in 1898. 

Useful Recipes

This is another small collection of recipes which Wicken appears to have had printed on her own account. When negotiating with Angus and Robertson for the printing of the fifth edition of the Kingswood, Harriet proposed these ‘Useful Recipes’ should be included. Angus and Robertson declined, but most of these recipes did find their way into the final sixth edition of the Kingswood published by Whitcombe and Tombs.[35]

Wicken may also have seen these smaller, cheaper booklets, including Lenten Dishes and Australian Table Dainties, as ideal for distribution at her classes. When she moved to Western Australia in 1899, she advertised Australian Table Dainties available for 1s 6d and Useful Recipes for 6d. whereas the Kingswood cost 3s 6d.[36]

Dainty Foods

Her last book, Dainty Foods, published in 1911 by the Progressive Thinker’s Library was a collection of easily prepared and inexpensive dishes meant to compliment those in the Kingswood. This appears to have been a commercial venture of some sort since she praises Waroombah Honey and the products manufactured under the Fountain brand, both of which are advertised in the book.[37] Altogether Dainty Foods includes thirty-six meat-based recipes, but these are largely for chicken and offal of one sort or another (brains, kidneys, tripe) and even one for raw meat balls. There is no mention of exotic fruits and vegetables but rather an emphasis on fish recipes again, and the odd recipe using bran and Protose (a meat substitute invented by Kellogg) suggesting that the progressive thinkers were advocates of a largely vegetarian diet or at least abstemious consumption. Wicken ends her introduction with an appeal to her readers:

since healthy bodies and pure minds are the most desirable possessions, it surely becomes the duty and pleasure of Australian women to do all they can to bring about such a happy state of affairs.[38]

Little is known about the Progressive Thinkers’ Library other than that it was just that, a lending library specialising in books on health and healing, diet, and physical culture, appealing to those who wanted to gain confidence, build their will power, increase their personal magnetism and generally become a more active participant in the business and social life around them.[39] Beyond the publication of this booklet, nothing is known of Mrs Wicken’s involvement with this organisation.  

Wicken’s publishing history suggests that she was not merely a good cook and a capable instructor, she was also an astute businesswoman. It is possible that Wicken paid some of the costs for the publication of the first edition of the Kingswood, published in London before she came to Sydney, and that this was a calculated move to demonstrate her reputation before she arrived in the colony and to boost her credentials as she established herself here. Wicken undoubtedly fully appreciated that the success of her cookery classes and the number and quality of her publications were intertwined–the more successful and the more publicity she gained for her classes the greater the sale of her books was likely to be; the more books she sold the more widespread her reputation with the likely result that her classes would be more popular. The booklets she had published which she made available at her classes are testimony to her entrepreneurship. Likewise, her endorsement of certain brands and companies was certainly to her financial advantage. Her direct association with the likes of J. G Hanks and Company and the Mutual Provedoring Company emphasises that she saw her cooking life as a career and a business venture.  

Harriet Wicken lacked neither spirit nor business acumen. Through hard work and carefully managing her ‘brand’ she was able to use her talents to build herself a successful career. Her qualifications from the National Training School for Cookery and her association with the Technical College in Sydney gave her gravitas and established her credentials and she was not ashamed to capitalise on and exploit her reputation. Just how much influence she had on domestic cookery in Australia is impossible to gauge but her later publications suggest she developed a keen understanding of what was appropriate for the local conditions. While not an Australian born author, like Mina Rawson or Hannah Maclurcan, Wicken's contribution should not be underestimated.

---

[1] H. F. Wicken, The Kingswood Cookery Book (London: Chapman and Hall, 1885).

[2] Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), 20 February 1886, p. 9, ‘Reviews’.

[3] This is George Robertson and Co the printers and publishers based in Melbourne, not to be confused with George Robertson of the publishers Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

[4] H. F. Wicken, The Kingswood Cookery Book (Melbourne and Sydney: George Robertson & Co., 1888).

[5] SMH, 2 March 1889, p. 7, ‘Women’s column’.

[6] Wicken, Kingswood 1888, Preface.

[7] Harriet Wicken, The Kingswood Cookery Book, 3^rd edition (Sydney: Edwards, Dunlop and Co., 1891), 283 pages; Harriet Wicken, The Kingswood Cookery Book, 4^th edition (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1898), 372 pages; Harriet Wicken, The Kingswood Cookery Book, 5^thedition (Sydney: Angus and Robertson 1900), 382 pages.

[8] Rosella is the calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa.

[9] Queenslander, 28 May 1898, p. 30, ‘The Kingswood Cookery Book’.

[10] Australian Town and Country Journal, 29 September 1900, p. 58, ‘Short notice’.

[11] National Advocate (Bathurst), 28 September 1900, p. 2, ‘Kingswood cookery book.’

[12] The Kingswood Cookery Book, 6th edition (Sydney: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1906) 428 pages. Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 14 February 1906, p. 5, ‘A new cook book’; Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 12 February 1906, p. 8, ‘Publications’; Leader (Melbourne), 17 February 1906, p. 39, ‘The Household’.

[13] The final publication of the Kingswood, the sixth edition produced by Whitcombe and Tombs in 1906, claimed to have ‘completed the 30^ththousand’

[14] Mrs. H. Wicken, The Cook’s Compass (Sydney: J.G. Hanks Co., 1890), publication date based on advertisement for Mrs Wicken’s classes at the Technical College due to commence on 9 February 1891, 151 pages; Fish Dainties (Melbourne: The Mutual Provedoring Company Limited, 1892), 56 pages; Lenten Dishes (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1896), 126 pages.

[15] Phillip E. Muskett, The Art of Living in Australia (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1893); Harriett Wicken, The Australian Home. A handbook of domestic economy (Sydney: Edwards, Dunlop and Co. Ltd, 1891)

[16] Wicken, Cook’s Compass, preface.

[17] Table Talk (Melb.), 14 August 1891 p. 4, ‘The Mutual Provedoring Company Limited’; Argus (Melb.), 29 December 1891, p. 6 ‘Mutual Provedoring Company’; Fitzroy City Press, (Melb.), 22 July 1892, p. 2 ‘Our new food supply’. The business went into liquidation in 1893, Argus (Melb.), 9 March 1893, p. 3 and The Age (Melb.) 7 April 1894, p. 15.

[18] Fish Dainties given away free to customers to popularise the use of fish Daily Telegraph (Syd), 16 July 1892, p. 9 ‘Passing notes’ by Faustus.

[19] Herald (Melb.), 23 February 1892, p. 4 ‘Fish dainties.’

[20] ‘Our food supplies’, Daily Telegraph (Syd), 29 December 1892, p. 5. See also ‘Weekly Times (Melb.) 18 June 1892, p. 20., The Fish Supply’.

[21] Mrs. Wicken The Australian Home: A handbook of domestic economy (Sydney: Edwards, Dunlop & Co., 1891). Newspaper report that estimates had been sought for a proposed textbook, Daily Telegraph (Syd), 28 May 1888, p. 3, ‘Technical Education’. Museums of History NSW-State Archives (MHNSW-St. Ac.). NRS 3830, Education Department Files, 20/12605, Cookery 1882-1892, Bridges to Undersecretary, 7 October 1892, confirming that there were no set text books but that the courses of lessons offered at the Technical College followed the content of ‘the South Kensington Official Handbook of Cookery’ (cookery instruction), the Kingswood Cookery Book and The Australian Home (household management).

[22] Wicken, Australian Home, p. v.

[23] Wicken, Australian Home, p. 1.

[24] Daily Telegraph, 29 August 1891, p. 9, ‘Reviews’.

[25] Queenslander, 20 February 1892, p. 356, ‘Australian domestic economy’.

[26] Wicken, Kingswood, 3^rd edition, Edwards, Dunlop & Co., Sydney 1891.

[27] For Muskett see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/muskett-philip-edward-13123; Sydney Stock and Station Journal, 31 August 1909, p. 3, ‘Dr. Philip Muskett’.

[28] Dr. P. E. Muskett, The art of living in Australia (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1893).

[29] See Muskett, Art of Living, Preface. There is also evidence that Muskett’s sister, Alice Jane (see https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/muskett-alice-jane-7717) attended Wicken’s classes at the Technical College, see MHNSW-St. Ac., NRS 3830, 20/12606, letter to Minister for Public Instruction from students protesting against result of exam at Sydney Technical College, date stamped 23 February 1893 and signed by Alice J. Muskett among others.

[30] Wicken, Kingswood 1888, pp. 16, 19.

[31] H. F. Wicken, Lenten Dishes, (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1896), 162 pages containing 223 recipes..

[32] Australian Town and Country Journal, 29 February 1896, p. 34, ‘’Advertising’; Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 22 February 1896, p. 392, ‘A cookery book for the season.’: Freeman’s Journal, 15 February 1896, p. 10, ‘Lenten dishes.’

[33] Mrs Wicken, Australian Table Dainties and Appetising Dishes (Sydney: Ward Lock & Co., 1897), 154 pages.

[34] Wicken, Australian Table Dainties, p. vii.

[35] Mrs Wicken, Useful Recipes (Sydney: Websdale, Shoosmith & Co., 1898), 31 pages, 75 recipes. MLMSS 3269 Angus and Robertson Archives, Collection 03 Angus and Robertson further records 1880–1979, series 01 Business records 1885–1973, sub-series 01 Angus and Robertson Business records 1885–1973, Box 73/1 Publishing Private Letter Book, 1898–1901, Angus and Robertson to Wicken, 22 January 1900, pp. 560-1.

[36] Advertising books for sale directly from the author, 60 Irwin Street, Perth, Western Mail (Perth), 19 May 1899, p. 36. 

[37] Mrs Wicken, Dainty Foods (Sydney: Progressive Thinker’s Library, 1911).

[38] Wicken, Dainty Foods, p. 10

[39] Globe (Syd), 12 July 1911, p. 2; Sun (Syd), 29 March 1914, p. 23 and 18 May 1914, p. 10.