Buy this book for the illustrations if you want, but don't be lured into believing that the scholarship is accurate! Cosman does NOT document her recipes (as a matter of fact, she has admitted in lectures to making some of them up), she does not give original recipes and sources, and she continually substitutes ingredients and methods unknown in Europe in the Renaissance. This book is old and the "fantasy" research is long outdated by the excellent work of Hieatt, Santich, Redon, Scully, and the like.