The Time & Talents Club in Bombay was inspired by and named after The Time & Talents Club of England. Founded in 1934 by Mrs Gool Shavaksha (daughter of Sir Dinshaw Mulla), the club consisted largely of Parsi women with a philanthropic bent of mind. From the arts to cuisine, education, healthcare and infrastructure, the members of the club identified with myriad cultural and social causes. The Parsi women of The Time & Talents Club were discerning gourmets who shared their dishes and recipes amongst themselves during their weekly Saturday meetings.
For bibliophiles and for those interested in the culinary arts, we are now pleased to offer an extremely rare and hard-to-find publication of The Time & Talents Club — Recipes — that has long been considered the holy writ of Parsi cuisine. In fact, the true First Edition of this book was actually not a 'book' but a loose, single-page sheet of recipes that was printed in 1935! Over the years, with the accumulation of a considerable number of recipes, it came to be published in book form. The book that we are offering is the highly rare December 1962 edition featuring all the recipes collected from 1934 to 1962. The publication of this particular edition of Recipes was followed by the inauguration of an iconic Parsi café — Victory Stall — run by The Time & Talents Club near the Gateway of India in 1963.
This book was classified into twelve sections — i] Soups & Beverages, ii] Fish, iii] Meat & Poultry, iv] Eggs, Snacks & Savouries, v] Rice & Curries, vi] Vegetables & Salads, vii] Breads, Chappaties, Biscuits & Cakes, viii] Deserts, Sweets & Puddings, ix] Sauces, Preserves, Jams, Pickles, Home Bottling & Preserving, x] Prize Winning, Subsidiary, Antiwaste Dishes & Silver Jubilee Competition of 1959, xi] International Dishes, xii] Diet, Glossary, Measurements & Index.
Every page of this book is dotted with footnotes in the form of quirky, inspiring quotes by renowned authors, poets, scientists, philosophers et al. — from Shakespeare to Stevenson, and from Einstein to Lin Yutang.
Several images of this precious rarity, including the complete table of contents, are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.
RECIPES
Recipes / Text by: Hilla Daruvala, Shirin Petigara, Jilloo Vakeel, Nergis Eranee, Mina Karanjia, Bhicoo Manekshaw, Khorshed Mistry, Hilla Kabraji, Mary Jamsetjee, Nergish Readymoney, Mehroo R. Cama. Mrs. J. D. Kapadia, Sheroo Billimoria, Gool Bharucha, Aimai Adenwalla, Gladys Kothavala, Nergesh Dalal, Silloo Dhondy, Perin Gobhai (the great artist Mehlli Gobhai's mother), Parviz Kapadia, Sooni Manekshaw, Nergish Marazbani, Miss Masketi et al.
Published by: Mrs. Gool K. S. Shavaksha on behalf of The Times & Talents Club, Mumbai, December 1962 — Extremely Rare and Hard-to-Find
Printed by: Michael Andrades at the Bombay Chronicle Press, Parsi Bazar Street, Bombay
Format: Hardcover. Professionally rebound in blue marbled paper with a genuine brown leather spine & leather
Size: 24.6 cm x 17.7 cm
Pages: vi + 306 pages (including 1 cartoon illustration by R. K. Laxman).
Condition: Pre-owned. Excellent. Pages clean and binding tight. Natural yellowing/foxing of some pages owing to age.
Marginalia: The page numbers were handwritten in pencil on the content page by the original owner of this book; image attached.
Remarks: Painstakingly sourced, this precious edition of 1962 is extremely rare and hard to find, especially in such good condition as the one we are offering now.
Please email us on kumarclassicbookpoint@gmail.com for cost and availability, or for any further queries in order to serve you better. Delivery in Mumbai is free.
