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Dubliners

by James Joyce

DUBLINERSJAMES JOYCE
Our binding, not the publisher's

“The raisins and almonds and figs and apples and oranges and chocolates and sweets were now passed about the table and Aunt Julia invited all the guests to have either port or sherry. At first Mr Bartell D’Arcy refused to take either but one of his neighbours nudged him and whispered something to him upon which he allowed his glass to be filled. Gradually as the last glasses were being filled the conversation ceased. A pause followed, broken only by the noise of the wine and by unsettlings of chairs. The Misses Morkan, all three, looked down at the tablecloth. Someone coughed once or twice and then a few gentlemen patted the table gently as a signal for silence. The silence came and Gabriel pushed back his chair.”

From a cookbook of 1909

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1909  ·  Parloa
CHOCOLATE OYSTERETTES, PLAIN AND WITH CHOPPED FIGS

[Illustration: CHOCOLATE OYSTERETTES.] Oyster crackers, salted preferred, fine-chopped, roasted peanuts or raisins or 3 or 4 basket figs or a little French fruit cut in very small bits, 1/2 a pound or more of Baker's "Dot" Chocolate. Select fresh-baked crackers free from crumbs. Dip in "Dot" Chocolate, made ready as in previous recipes, and dispose on oil cloth or waxed paper. For a change add figs or other fruit, cut very fine, or chopped nuts to the chocolate ready for dipping.

Sources: The passage is from James Joyce, Dubliners, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Parloa, Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Home Made Candy Recipes of 1909, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — forest cloth, goose stamp.

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