author
Charles Martyn
b. 1874
Best remembered for lively books on food history and reference works for dining and hospitality, this early 20th-century writer moved easily between practical culinary subjects and American historical biography. His surviving books still feel curious and wide-ranging, from ancient kitchens to Revolutionary-era lives.
1 Audiobook
Foods and Culinary Utensils of the Ancients
by Charles Martyn
About the author
Born in 1874, Charles Martyn was an author and compiler whose published work ranged across culinary history, menu terminology, and biography. Records for his books identify him as the author of Martyn's Menu Dictionary (1903), Foods and Culinary Utensils of the Ancients (1906), and The Life of Artemas Ward, the First Commander-in-Chief of the American Revolution (1921).
His writing shows an unusual mix of interests. On one side, he produced practical and historical food books that explored old culinary customs and explained the language of dining; on the other, he turned to American Revolutionary history in a full-length life of General Artemas Ward. That combination suggests a writer comfortable both with reference-style research and with narrative historical work.
Not much biographical detail about his personal life was easy to confirm from the available sources, so the books themselves give the clearest picture of his career. Taken together, they present him as a versatile nonfiction author whose work appealed to readers interested in food, language, and the past.