New University Acquires Oldest Surviving Book About British Cheese

London, 14 Sep (ONA) --- The earliest surviving book about British cheese has been acquired by the University of Leeds library’s special collections.

“A pamflyt compiled of Cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes” was previously unknown and thought to be unpublished.

The 112-page vellum-bound manuscript was handwritten in the 1580s, covering all aspects of cheesemaking from ancient to Tudor times, describing the production of many different English and Welsh cheeses and their merits.

The manuscript also pronounces “the vertues of cheese used as a medicine".

Food historian Peter Brears thinks the book “is probably the first comprehensive academic study of a single foodstuff to be written in the English language.”

---Ends/Thuraiya/AG