The Epicure's Almanack


The Epicure's Almanack; or, Calendar of Good Living, was a guide to eating establishments in London, written by Ralph Rylance and published by Longman in 1815. Given the poor reception of the initial printing, there was no effort to pull together any later edition. The book was republished by the British Library in 2013, with extensive commentary by Janet Ing Freeman.

The Book

The Epicure's Almanack describes some 650 eating establishments in London and its then-surroundings as of 1815. Longman, its publisher, spent nearly £177 to print 750 copies of the first edition, and advertised heavily, but in the end fewer than 300 copies were sold; the remainder were pulped. It was advertised as being modelled on the Almanach des Gourmands, published in Paris between 1803 and 1812, but the claim seems untrue. In fact, it was pulled together from the notes of Rylance and collaborators as they visited a number of London establishments. Very few of these eateries have continued to the present day, and the book's primary interest is as an early-19th century description of London, its eateries, and its cuisine.
The book is organized into a main body and three shorter appendices:
  • The Almanack proper, describing shops, pubs, taverns, and dining halls by geographic region, both within and around London of that day.The Review of Artists who Administer to Wants and Conveniences of the Table, which identifies new and useful implements for cooking, and which aims to improve British cuisine
  • A review of London's best Markets.
  • And finally an Alimentary Calendar, describing which foods are in season at any given time of year.
In the appendices, it is apparent that Ryler's interest is not merely to describe London's eating places, but to improve the quality of British cuisine. His Review of Artists begins with a telling quote:
Rylance himself was an itinerant author, in and out of mental asylums, apparently due to manic depressive disorder; he died in a private asylum in 1834.

Condiments of Regency London

The Almanack's Review of Artists who Administer to Wants and Conveniences of the Table, pages 272–273, provides detailed documentation of condiments available in Regency-era London "Italian warehouses":

Surviving establishments

As of 2012, the following establishments listed in the Epicure's Almanack still exist in substantially the same form:

Central London

Outer London