Native Diet With Numerous Practical Recipes Inscribed By The Author

Published by William Heinemann, London, UK. Date: 1926. 1st edition. Original black boards, paper spine label and paper label to the front board. Size: 14.3cm x 22.2cm. Pp. ix + 140 + ads. Illustrated with ten plates including a frontispiece of Tomika Te Mutu, a famous Maori cultivator. With much on the diet of the Maori people of New Zealand but including information on the diets of Africa, the Americas and the Pacific Islands. Chapters include ‘Maori Symbolism’, ‘Terrace Gardens and Pit Cultivations’, ‘Pot-Herbs, Salads and Beers’, ‘Forest and Sea Foods’ and ‘Steaming and Preserving’. Rout was a Tasmanian-born New Zealander whose work among servicemen in Paris and the Somme made her a war hero amongst the French but pilloried in New Zealand. Her work, which resulted in her being mentioned in despatches by General Sir Archibald Murray and decorated by the French, involved the inspection of brothels and the reduction in transmission of sexually-transmitted infections amongst servicemen through the free distribution of her safe sex kit to New Zealand servicemen. Despite this, the mere mention of her exploits and works in print in New Zealand could result in a £100 fine whilst her works such as ‘Safe Marriage: A Return To Sanity’ were published in Australia and became a bestseller in the UK. Nevertheless, a bishop referred to her as ‘the wickedest woman in Britain’. A biography of her was written in 1992 by Jane Tolerton. Inscribed: ‘To Miss Vera Mulholland With The Author’s Compliments, Ettie A Rout, London, Dec 3/26.’ Binding nice and tight. Pages and plates nice and clean. Very minor label removal mark to the front board else. Slight rubbing to the edges and minor fading to the spine label. A near fine, tight, clean copy. Very scarce.