A HISTORY OF CAKES AND ALE
9 FEBRUARY 2024
February 13th is Shrove Tuesday - which for Stationers means celebrating the centuries' old tradition of Cakes and Ale, established by bookseller John Norton in 1613. Here archive intern Beth Debold explores the history of this tradition.
Main image: Delivery note for baker Thomas Averley's 'penny cakes' in preparation for Cakes and Ale, 1685. Stationers' Company Archive, TSC/D/11/05
The serving of cakes and ale around Ash Wednesday is a long tradition in the Stationer’s Company. This custom has its origins in a generous gift made by John Norton, a prominent member of the Company who died in 1613. Norton served on the Court of Assistants and as Master, and lent his name to such weighty publications as John Gerard’s beautifully-illustrated herbal and Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.