author
A. G. (Arthur Gay) Payne
1840–1894
A practical Victorian voice who wrote about both sport and cookery, he is best remembered for clear, economical advice aimed at everyday households. He also published under the pseudonym Phillis Browne, bringing an accessible, common-sense tone to domestic writing.
2 Audiobooks
Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery: A Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet
by A. G. (Arthur Gay) Payne
Common-Sense Papers on Cookery
by A. G. (Arthur Gay) Payne
About the author
Arthur Gay Payne (1840–1894) was an English sports editor and writer on cookery. Born in Camberwell and later dying in Penzance, he built a varied writing career and became known for straightforward, useful books rather than grand literary showmanship.
He wrote not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Phillis Browne. That name appears on several domestic and cookery works, and it reflects the practical readership he was trying to reach: people looking for affordable, workable advice for daily life.
Today, Payne is chiefly associated with books such as Common-Sense Papers on Cookery and Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery. His surviving reputation rests on the same qualities that made those books useful in the first place: clarity, thrift, and an easy belief that good food should be within reach of ordinary readers.