South Wind Through the Kitchen Elizabeth David

South Wind Through the Kitchen:

The Best of Elizabeth David

Elizabeth David, compiled by Jill Norman

Published by Michael Joseph, 1997 (Hardback)

Designed by uncredited

Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting

Illustrations by Adrian Daintrey, John Minton, Juliet Renny, Renato Guttuso, Marie Alix and Wendy Jones

Jacket photograph by Anthony Denney

South Wind Through the Kitchen is an anthology of Elizabeth David’s cookery books; her first book, Mediterranean Food, was originally published in 1950. David’s books have been published by many publishers, in different formats, notably by Penguin in their ‘Handbook’ series. David’s recipes still resonate today and it is interesting that the design of this anthology, published in 1997, makes no concessions to contemporary taste. This is a book that carries authority through its choice of typeface and through its formal neo-Classical typography; it is not illustrated, in the contemporary fashion, with lavishly-styled photographs: the text is the dominant element of the book. However, the one photograph, that appears on the cover, could be viewed as a metaphor for how David’s text functions: the photograph shows a darkened room, with a view through a window on to a sunlit landscape in the same way that David’s writings take us elsewhere.

Front Cover

The cover shows a photograph, by Anthony Denney, of a still-life of kitchen items: a large round demijohn containing olive oil or similar; a copper water jug; an oil dispenser with a makeshift lid of olive leaves, in a copper dish; a wooden-handled knife; a peach; and a small crusty bread roll stuffed with tomatoes on a plate. The items are on a rough-hewn wooden table that is placed in front of an oval window with wooden shutters. The interior is dark and shady and the light filters through the demijohn and leads the eye outside to the green terraces beyond.

The dominant tones in the image are rich blacks and dark browns with the bright sun catching the oil and offering a contrast. The photograph takes up the bottom two thirds of the cover, at the top it fades into a rich black on which the typography is placed. The title of the book is printed in red in an italic sans-serif (Monotype Ehrhardt) with the subtitle printed below, in white, in smaller, uppercase Monotype Ehrhardt. The type is centred and the two pieces of information are separated by a short rule, printed in red. The immediate feel is of informality, created by the photograph, that suggests, through signifiers such as the olive oil dispenser, the sunshine and the simple sandwich, the relaxed lifestyle of the Mediterranean. This informality is tempered by the typography which carries a sense of formality and authority by being centred and, through the choice of typeface which although has ‘character’ appears somewhat stiff and formal even in its italic form.

Inside Pages

The book is 15 cm by 23 cm and is printed black on cream uncoated paper and is set in Monotype Ehrhardt. The book is divided into chapters, some chapters are collections of recipes dealing with different kinds of food: soups, eggs and cheese, fish, meat etc while others contain Elizabeth David’s writings on topics such as 'Italian Fish Markets’. The Contents page establishes a hierarchy of these different kinds of information: editorial notes are set in italic, Elizabeth David’s own writings are set in title-case, chapters containing recipes are set in uppercase.

The book is based on a simple one-column grid with symmetrical facing pages; the outer margin is about twice as wide as the inner margin which means that the central gutter appears almost equal to the outside margins - this gives the page a sense of stability and solidity. Running heads are set in small caps, centrally positioned with pagination set in non-aligning numerals, centrally positioned at the foot of the page. Chapters dealing with David’s writings are announced with a title set in title-case Ehrhardt, set at a larger point size than in the rest of the book, centred and aligned to the second line of type; the body text itself begins approximately a third of the way down the page. When set in title-case and at a larger size, the character of the typeface becomes much more obvious; the type appears warmer and the formality is less apparent, perhaps representing Elizabeth David’s casual, conversational tone of writing. Chapters that deal with recipes are highlighted with a title set in uppercase Ehrhardt, the same size as the other chapter titles and positioned in the same place; an illustration of the ingredient discussed in that section is placed below the text. Illustrations also appear sporadically throughout the book, subtly breaking up the text and creating the book’s own internal rhythm.

Recipes and writings are essentially intertwined; the two are typeset in the same manner. Recipes are differentiated by three linespaces before and after and the title set in uppercase Ehrhardt at a slightly smaller point size than the body text. There are no separate lists of ingredients, they are written as continuous text, merging with the rather scant method: the assumption is that the reader is already a confident cook. Elizabeth David’s recipes are more like a conversation with a knowledgeable friend; the design of this book does not overly labour this point: the recipes are given authority by the formal layout and typography. The book looks more like a novel than a cook book; this is essentially a book that is designed for reading not for cooking. Aside from the typographic functionalism of the recipes, it could be argued that, when the books were originally published in the early 1950s, with rationing still in force and with ingredients such as olive oil only available in chemists, it was impossible to get most of the ingredients mentioned in the books so these really were books meant for reading not cooking.