Wikipedia:Peer review/Hannah Glasse/archive1

Hannah Glasse

Hannah Glasse is an interesting figure in English culinary history. Although she copied some of the recipes in her book (as did every other writer of the time), she checked most of them, updating, changing and improving the recipes as she did so. She didn't have an easy life, and eventually had to sell the rights to her book to cover her debts. This has been rewritten recently, with additional sources and coverage. Any and all comments in good faith are welcome. Cheers – SchroCat (talk) 10:39, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Comments from TR

As you can easily imagine I vastly enjoyed reading this article. It seems to me to cover the subject splendidly, and you have a formidable array of references. I have, more meo, some pernickety points about the prose:

• "Her first cookbook" – all one word here but two words later: and see my next-but-four comment.
• "She was also the first [missing word?] call the Yorkshire pudding as such" – this sentence needs a little massaging. I take it to mean she was the first to use the term "Yorkshire pudding" in print.
• "she ran up excessive debts. She was imprisoned for her debts" – a touch repetitive.
• "a land owner and coal mine owner" – the OED makes "landowner" a single word.
• "with her husband at Piccadilly" – not sure about the preposition. Wouldn't "in" be more natural here?
• "She then decided to write a cook book" – I am familiar with the phrase "cook book" from the Scouse elocution phrase, "Go an 'ave a loook in a coook boook", but on the printed page or the computer screen I think "cookery cook" is more usual. Quite prepared to be told I'm wrong.

• I'll change it to "cookery cook" if you want, but I may put it as "cookery book" instead... - SchroCat (talk) 13:24, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

• Touché! I did say I was prepared to be told I was wrong, though I hadn't quite thought of it in exactly this way. Tim riley talk 15:46, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

• "Glasse also included not just a recipe for "Welch rabbit" (now called Welsh rarebit)" – No it bloody well isn't, not by right-minded persons at any rate. See Mrs David on the subject, and tremble! I'd settle, grudgingly, for "now sometimes called".

• Have you ever come across English rabbit before? I may have to give it a try sometime! - SchroCat (talk) 14:13, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

• "Glasse was also the first call the Yorkshire pudding as such" – as in the lead, this sentence needs a little attention.
• "Glasse set herself up as a 'habit maker'" – only single quotes?
• "a full-page advertisement for her outlet" – is it just the lingering influence of our researches for Round the Horne or is there something reminiscent here of "You'll get a warm hand on your entrance"?
• "Glasse was not a successful in her line of business" – not a successful what?
• "well-to-do- houses" – I'm not sure houses are well-to-do. Well-to-do households might be more the mark.
• "Glasse saw that household education for young ladies no longer included confectionary and grand desserts" – Mrs G may have spelled "confectionary" with an a, but there's no need for us to. I'd stick to the OED's "confectionery" except when quoting.
• "her timings were more precise than previous cook books, although they were still lacking" – not sure I get this. If they were lacking, how could they be precise?

• I'm not sure you're quite there with this bit. "her timings were an improvement than previous cookery books, although they were still lacking": two things on this. First "an improvement than" isn't ideal, and secondly "they were still lacking" means to me that there weren't any. I think what is wanted here is something on the lines of "although she did not give timings for all her recipes there were more than authors of earlier cookery books had printed."

• "Glasse was also ahead of her time in other respects...." – Four sentences in this para start with the word "Glasse", and she's also name-checked in mid sentence half-way through. Replacing the name with a pronoun here and there would aid the flow of the prose, I think.
• "This dish I do not recommend ..." – missing closing quotation marks.
• "The saying is one of around 400 of her quotations used in the Oxford English Dictionary" – I boggled at this, but I find you're absolutely right. Most impressive!
• "The stock from the shop was not sold to pay the debts: they were held in Margaret's name." – If, as I take it, the "they" refers to the stock, it should be "it".

That's my lot. Pray ping me when you go to FAC. I'm hungry now. – Tim riley talk 12:58, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

• Many thanks for your input Tim, I'm very much obliged to you, as always. Enjoy the English rabbit - I may have to try it out a little later! Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 14:21, 1 April 2019 (UTC)