Action Cookbook

Back in July I posted an entry about Deighton's marvellous Ou Est Le Garlic. What I love about his Action Cookbook is how it tries to monopolise on his success as a thriller writer. This is very much a cook book for "real men", published at a time when it was uncommon for men to be seen in the domestic kitchen. You've got to love that sprig of parsley.

As well as excellent recipe strips to help you cook seductive meals for your latest romantic interest, there's good, manly stuff like where to buy the best cigars.

The cover design is by Raymond Hawkey (a friend of the novelists who studied with him at the Royal College of Art), a seminal cover designer of the sixties who also designed Deighton's novels, like my personal favourite...

Comments

[Stephen Coles]

This is a wonderful site. So happy I found it through our referer logs. Are you in Phase I or II, btw?

This book cover gave me a crazy notion for Typographica's redesign. If it worked, you'll see the evidence thereof by the end of the year.

Thank you!

[philip]

I learnt to cook with this book. My mum gave me her copy when I went away to college. The illos really are cool as are the old school shopping tips 'a good delicatessen should have dried pasta'
keep up the good work, fab site.

[Johnny]

This is a very impressive site.

The Ipcress edition is the same as my much-read copy, and I too learned to cook with the "Action Cook Book". The subversive, sardonic Palmer is- for my money- worth a thousand 007s. That said, the Pan Bonds look terrific.

Keep up the good work!

[Pointillist]

I have started a Wikipedia article to describe Raymond Hawkey's life & work, and I have cited your page as a source for images of the Action Cookbook cover (I haven't copied the images, merely linked to your page).

If you would like your images to appear directly in Wikipedia, or if you would like to amend/extend the article, please can you make the appropriate changes in Wikipedia?

The article is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Hawkey.

Thanks.