 Elizabeth David , asking why " this peerless writer " was eclipsed by " imitators so limited in experience , and in capacity of expression so inferior ? " She answers her own question with the suggestion that Acton , born in 1799 , was " in taste and in spirit , a child of the eighteenth century . " David notes that the year after Modern Cookery was first published , Bird 's Custard Powder was launched : " What we know as modern cookery , and it had little to do with Eliza Acton 's version , was on its way . " And she points out that manuals like Mrs Beeton 's , which in later editions were edited and re @-@ written by other hands , existed to allow cooks to look up recipes , rather than to read cookery books . She concludes that " A book such as Miss Acton 's , written as a coherent whole , is essentially one to be read , as it is written , with intelligence and understanding and application . " 
