Two Edwardian silver warming toast racks, Asprey & Co., London 1907 and 1909

'David Copperfield,' said Mrs. Creakle, leading me to a sofa, and

sitting down beside me. 'I want to speak to you very particularly.

I have something to tell you, my child.'

Mr. Creakle, at whom of course I looked, shook his head without

looking at me, and stopped up a sigh with a very large piece of

buttered toast. (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, London, 1849, ch. 9)

By the time Mr. Creakle was enjoying his breakfast toast, toast for breakfast, at least here in England, was already a well-established pleasure. In 1772 the actor and dramatist, Thomas Hull (1728-1808) published Genuine Letters from a Gentleman to a Young Lady his Pupil calculated to form the Taste, regulate the Judgment, and improve the Morals. In one of these letters, purporting to have been penned in 1742 during a journey to Uxbridge, about 20 miles to the west of London, the writer mentioned that he had ‘wisely drank three Dishes of Coffee, and eaten a buttered Toast before-hand.’

Buttered toast may suit many tastes, but, as the dependable Mrs. Beeton in her Book of Household Management declared, dry toast is more difficult to make properly: ‘a great deal of attention is required,’ she wrote, ‘much more, indeed, than people generally suppose.’

Her instructions were as follows: ‘Never use new bread for making any kind of toast, as it eats heavy, and besides, is very extravagant. Procure a loaf of household bread about two days old; cut off as many slices as may be required, not quite ¼ inch in thickness; trim off the crusts and ragged edges, put the bread on a toasting-fork, and hold it before a very clear fire. Move it backwards and forwards until the bread is nicely coloured; then turn it and toast the other side, and do not place it so near the fire that it blackens. Dry toast should be more gradually made than buttered toast, as its great beauty consists in its crispness, and this cannot be attained unless the process is slow and the bread is allowed gradually to colour. It should never be made long before it is wanted, as it soon becomes tough, unless, placed on the fender in front of the fire. As soon as each piece is ready, it should be put into a rack, or stood upon its edges, and sent quickly to table.’

The origin of the toast rack as an item of domestic necessity is unknown. It is possible that the first were made in Japanned metal, as can be found in 1773 listed among the stock of John Mylne & Son, founders and ironmongers of High Street, Edinburgh: ‘They have at present on hand a neat assortment of Tea Kitchens [i.e. tea urns], Coffee Pots, Tea Trays, Waiters, Bread and Sugar Baskets, Hand and Table Candlesticks, Plate Warmers, Dry Toast Plates, Table Crosses, Bottle Sliders and Labels, Enamelled Tea and Table Candlesticks; and many other articles in the japanned way, too tedious to mention.’¹

The earliest examples in silver appear to date from the late 1770s/early 1780s and were elegant enough to have been placed directly on the breakfast table. Several from around 1780 bearing the mark of the London silversmith Burrage Davenport (1749-1819) have been recorded. Each are in the form of a pierced two-handled oval or navette-shaped tray, raised on four claw and ball supports, and fitted with five wirework hoop toast holders.

Since those days toast racks have been made in a bewildering number of styles and patterns, some patented, others of a novel form, such as the ‘expanding toast rack’ that Mr. and Mrs. George Campbell gave as a wedding present to Captain Yate of the Indian Staff Corps and his bride in 1895.²

In 1901 Mappin Brothers of Sheffield introduced their ‘New Toast Warmer, for 6 pieces’ in ‘Queen’s Plate,’ their own brand of electroplate. Like the Asprey silver examples in this present lot, Mappin’s toast warmer was supplied complete with a lampstand and spirit burner. It was also furnished with a removable cover or ‘toast cozy.’ The price was three guineas, which is roughly the equivalent today of £245!³ A similar item, but without the cover, was recommenced to readers of The Queen magazine for the Christmas season of 1911: ‘In point of originality the palm perhaps should go to the Crisper toast rack, a delightful addition to the breakfast table, the rack being raised above a small spirit lamp, which when alight, keeps the toast in the perfection of condition approved of the gourmet. Effected in the best plate [i.e. electroplate] this is a gift that would recall pleasant memories of the give for all time, and the price, 29s. 6d., is quite moderate.’⁴

Notes

1. The Caledonia Mercury, Edinburgh, Saturday, 11 September 1773, p. 3c

2. The Bath Chronicle, Bath, Thursday, 17 October 1895, p. 3d

3. The Queen, London, Saturday, 23 November 1901, advertisement

4. The Queen, London, Saturday, 25 November 1911, p. 958