First edition. 8vo., 21x15cm, 230pp. Original publisher's green cloth. London, Jonathan Cape. Elizabeth David's copy with her bookplate. Hilda Leyel, who published under the initials 'C.F', was a self-taught herbalist who took particular inspiration from the writings of Nicholas Culpeper, Original cloth stained and faded. No wrapper. Pages uncut. With inscription The queen of British food writing, Elizabeth David, fondly remembered being given a copy of Leyel's The Gentle Art of Cookery as a young girl: 'I wonder if I would have ever learned to cook at all if I had been given a routine Mrs Beeton to learn from, instead of the romantic Mrs Leyel with her rather wild, imagination-catching recipes.' Full of Leyel's charming and playful text. Wonderful association with Elizabeth David.