author
Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell
1745–1828
Best known for turning practical household knowledge into one of the most successful cookery books of the 19th century, this English writer helped shape how private families cooked, managed money, and ran the home. Her work mixed recipes with advice on thrift, order, and everyday domestic life.
1 Audiobook
New system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of economy, and adapted to the use of private families
by Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell
About the author
Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell was an English writer born in 1745, remembered chiefly for A New System of Domestic Cookery. Although relatively little is known about much of her life, she was the daughter of Abel Johnstone Ketelby of Ludlow, Shropshire, and later married Thomas Rundell, who was connected with the prominent London firm Rundell & Bridges.
Her most famous book began as a collection of recipes and household guidance sent to the publisher John Murray in the early 1800s. First published in 1806, A New System of Domestic Cookery became hugely popular and was reprinted many times. Readers valued it not just as a cookbook, but as a practical guide to running a household economically and efficiently.
Rundell also wrote Letters Addressed to Two Absent Daughters, showing the same interest in domestic advice and everyday conduct. She died on December 16, 1828. Today she is remembered as one of the key food writers of her era, especially for bringing clarity and usefulness to cookery writing for ordinary families.