The English-Chinese Cookery Book by J Dyer Ball

Following the previous post on The Tokiwa Cook Book 常磐西洋料理 (1904) by Mrs G. Binford of Yokohama, I am enjoing another interesting western cook book aiming at the natives by James Dyer Ball, The English-Chinese Cookery Book: containing 200 receipts in English and Chinese, published and printed by the celebrated English bookseller Kelly & Walsh in Hong Kong in 1890.

Ball had widely written a number of handy language textbooks for foreigners in Hong Kong, such as Cantonese Made Easy, How to Speak Cantonese and How to Write Chinese, and to him this spectacular cook book "is a new departure".

This new departure was the result of meeting the local demand as well as the publishing trend at the time. With a graceful Chinese title 西國品味求真, the bilingual cook book aims to Chinese cook in foreigners' houses. In his preface, Ball claims that the foreigners can simply show their cooks the Chinese translation of the English recipes, "and get what he wants, provided the Cook closely follows the instructions given".

To be continued.