Blue Fin
1567 Broadway (Midtown West)
Manhattan
212-918-1400
Blue Ribbon Brooklyn
280 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn
212-840-0404
Blue Ribbon Manhattan
97 Sullivan Street
Manhattan
212-274-0404
Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant
Grand Central Terminal
89 East 42nd Street
Manhattan
212-490-6650
Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar
246 East 5th Street
Manhattan
212-673-0338
Pearl Oyster Bar
18 Cornelia Street
Manhattan
212-691-8211
California
Brigantine – Coronado
1333 Orange Avenue
Coronado
619-435-4166
PJ’s Oyster Bed
737 Irving Street
San Francisco
415-566-7775
Swan Oyster Depot
1517 Polk Street
San Francisco
415-673-1101
Florida
City Oyster
213 East Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach
561-272-0220
Illinois
Bluepoint Oyster Bar
741 West Randolph Street
Chicago
312-207-1222
Louisiana
Black’s Oyster Bar
319 Père Megret Street
Abbeville
337-893-4266
Acme Seafood and Oyster House
724 Iberville Street
New Orleans
504-522-5973
Casamento’s Restaurant
4330 Magazine Street
New Orleans
504-895-9761
Massachusetts
B&G Oysters
550 Tremont Street
Boston
617-423-0550
McCormick & Schmicks
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Boston
617-720-5522
Union Oyster House
41 Union Street
Boston
617-227-2750
The Oyster Cabin
785 Quaker Highway Route 146A
Uxbridge
508-278-4440
North Carolina
T. & W. Oyster Bar
Highway 58 North
Cape Carteret
252-393-8838
Half Shell Oyster Bar and Seafood
Restaurant
1706 Battleground Avenue
Greensboro
336-274-0950
42nd Street Oyster Bar
508 West Jones Street
Raleigh
919-831-2811
Virginia
22nd Street Oyster Bar
2200 Colonial Avenue
Norfolk
757-248-2403
Washington
Oyster Bay Inn and Restaurant
4412 Kitsap Way
Bremerton
360-377-5510
Elliott’s Oyster House
1201 Alaskan Way, Pier 56
Seattle
206-623-4340
AUSTRALIA
Blue Oyster
2-22B/12 Knox
Double Bay
New South Wales
02-9362-4010
The Melbourne Oyster Bar and Seafood
Restaurant
209 King Street
Melbourne
Victoria
03-9670-1881
Tommy Ruff’s Seafood and Oyster Bar
56 Marina Boulevard
Cullen Bay
Northern Territory
08-8981-3633
CANADA
Naked Oyster
110 Dundas Street
London
Ontario
519-667-1337
FRANCE
Paris
(Most brasseries in Paris serve oysters, displayed outside at the entrance.)
Brasserie Le Dôme
108 boulevard du Montparnasse
01-43-35-2581
L’Ecailler du Bistrot
22 rue Paul Bert
01-43-72-7677
L’Huitrier
16 rue Saussier Leroy
01-40-54-8344
Le Wepler
14 place de Clichy
01-45-22-5324
Marseilles
Coquillages Toinou
3 cours Saint-Louis
04-91-33-1494
Nice
Grand Café de Turin
5 place Garibaldi
04-93-62-2952
JAPAN
Tokyo
Ginza Bairin
Kojunsya Street
7-8-1 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3571-0350
Ginza Sembikiya 3F Restaurant
8-8-8 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3572-0105
Kitchen Yanagi
Nodaya Building
8-6-19 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3572-7277
Mikawaya Honten
4-7-16 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3561-2006
Mikawaya Melsa Store (New Melsa Store 7F)
5-7-12 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3574-8075
Rengatei
3-5-16 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3561-7258
Restaurant Jardan
3-3-13 Ginza
Chuo-ku
03-3562-1691
Acknowledgements
For the generous gathering of oyster ephemera from archives, books and galleries around the world I would like to thank Kevin Jackson, Jonathan Burt, Patricia Fara and the members of the Victoria List, particularly Ellen Jordan and Matt Demakos. For patient and inspired picture research and editorial work I would like to thank Amanda Randall, Robbie Kneale and Jane Seakins, talented undergraduate students at APU, Cambridge. Thank you to Hannah Morrish for helping with the index. The pictures were funded by a grant from the British Academy, for which I am most grateful.
Photo Acknowledgements
The author and publishers wish to express their thanks to the below sources of illustrative material and/or permission to reproduce it:
The Art Institute of Chicago (Arthur Jerome Eddy Memorial Collection), photo © 2000 The Art Institute of Chicago, All Rights Reserved: p. 129; photos by the author, or from the author’s collection: pp. 32, 35, 41, 47, 67, 72, 79, 89, 98, 99, 119, 199, 205, 207; photos courtesy of Bettman/CORBIS: pp. 85, 112; Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS Bodley 264, f. 218r), photo Bodleian Library: p. 176; from William K. Brooks, The Oyster (Baltimore, Maryland, 1891): pp. 44, 46, 53; photos Cambridge University Library: pp. 42, 68; from Victor Coste’s Voyage d’Exploration sur Le Littoral de la France et de l’Italie (Paris, 1855): p. 43; photo by permission of the John Deakin Archive: p. 81; photos courtesy of the photographer, Alan Donaldson: p. 123; photos courtesy of the Mary Evans Picture Library: pp. 55, 62, 63, 69, 159; photo courtesy of the Florida State Archives: p.36; photos courtesy of Getty Images: pp. 9 (Stone), 120, 161, 202 (all Hulton Archive); photo courtesy of the artist (Paul Hill): p. 147; photo Kobal Collection/Superstock: p. 190; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, photo courtesy of the Koninklijk Museum: p. 132; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (LC-USZ6-1306), photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine: p. 6; photo courtesy of the London Pearly Kings and Queens Society: p. 201; Manchester City Art Gallery, photo Manchester City Art Galleries: p. 179; photo courtesy of The Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia: p. 91; photo courtesy of Maryland Sea Grant: p. 24; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (purchase), photo: © 1983 Metropolitan Museum of Art: p. 142; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (bequest of Richard P. Gale); photo courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: p. 194; Musée
Condé, Chantilly (photo RMN-Harry Bréjat): p. 59; Musée du Louvre, Paris, photo courtesy of the Photographic Library of the Reunion des Musées Nationaux: p. 141; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid: pp. 136, 203; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam: p. 139; National Gallery, London (photo National Gallery Picture Library). p. 58. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (Patrons Permanent Fund), photo Bob Grove/National Gallery of Art Office of Visual Services: p. 137; photos courtesy of the National Library of Australia, Sydney: pp. 151, 152; National Portrait Gallery, London, photo National Portrait Gallery Picture Library, by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London: p. 187; photos courtesy of Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association: pp. 14, 28, 45, 48, 50, 51, 52, 156; photo courtesy of Popperfoto: p. 80; photo courtesy of Anthony Redpath/CORBIS, p. 173; from Lovell Augustus Reeve and G. B. Sowerby, Monograph of the Genus Philine (London, 1873): pp. 18, 20, 21, 22, 23; photos courtesy of the artist (Philip Ross): pp. 148, 149; Royal Cabinet of Paintings, ‘Mauritshuis’, The Hague, photos courtesy of the ‘Mauritshuis’: pp. 134, 135, 172; photo courtesy of the artist (Bianca Sforni): p. 144; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, photo courtesy of the Staatsgalerie: p. 169; photo courtesy of the artist (Stephen Turner): p. 150; photo courtesy of Gian Berto Vanni/CORBIS: p. 118; photo © V&A Picture Library, courtesy of the artist (Hannah Collins): p. 143; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland (photo Walters Art Museum Photo Services): p. 71; photo reproduced by permission of the Trustees of The Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey: p. 103; photos courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London: pp. 92, 183; photos courtesy of the Zoological Society Library: pp. 18, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Index
Allen, Woody 111–12
Alpers, Svetlana 139–40
ama, pearl divers 193–5, 194, 195, 196
anatomy 12, 31, 118
Arnold, Sir Edward 178
Australia 73, 151–2
Bacon, Sir Francis (philosopher) 140
Bacon, Francis (painter) 81, 81
Bakst, Léon 189–90
Baktin, Mikhail 114
Beert, Osias 136–8, 136, 137, 145, 169
Bentham, Jeremy 107–8
Billingsgate, London 66
Blackpool, Lancashire 80–81, 80
Bolitho, Hector 7–9, 39–40
Bourdain, Anthony 168–70
Bowden, Samuel 83–4
Boyle, Robert 106–7
Bryson, Norman 140–41
Bulot, Boyd 100
Camporesi, Piero 61–4
Cannadine, David 75–6
Carlyle, Jane 125
Carroll, Lewis 19, 93–7
Casanova 155
Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon 141–3, 141
Cheney, Liana de Girolami 131
China 37, 55, 174, 175, 176
Claesz., Pieter 138
Clark, Henry Savile 96
Cleopatra 182–3, 183
Colchester oyster feast 75–7
Collins, Hannah 143, 146–7
Cook, Captain 73
Cooke, Edward 125–7, 126
Coste, Victor 43–6, 46
Cowper, William 108–9
Cubagua 184–5
cultch 28
Dando, the oyster thief 84–6
Darwin, Charles 116, 90, 125–6
Defoe, Daniel 163–4
Denmark 36
Dickens, Charles 64–5, 73–5, 76–7, 122
Doty, Mark 145–6
Draper, James Herbert 179
drill-dredge 49, 152
Duncan, Isadora 156
East India Company 61
Eliot, George 120, 143–5
Elizabeth I, Queen 186–7, 187
embryology 13–14
evolutionary history 13–20
Exeter Book, The 56
Fadiouth, Senegal 35–6
Felton, Cornelius 73
first oyster eater 101–5
Firth of Forth 89, 90
Fisher, M.F.K. 25–6, 32–3, 155, 174, 175–6
Fontaine 83, 105
Forbes, Edward 121–2
France 43–6, 43, 44, 46, 45, 53, 59, 71, 118, 157
Freud, Sigmund 114
Gay, John 101, 157
Gerard, James Watson 101, 117, 161–3
Grant, Robert 108
Hals, Dirck 58, 133
Heaney, Seamus 206–7
Heda, Willem Claesz. 138, 139
Heem, Davidsz. de 145
Hemingway, Ernest 204–5
Hill, Paul 147–8, 147
Holland 131–41
Huxley, T. H. 31, 118
India 176–7, 197–8
Japan 34, 41–3, 51, 55, 100, 193–5, 194, 195, 196, 200
Kaye, Stubby 85
Keats, John 137–8
Khoikhoi 37
Kristeva, Julia 113
Lankester, E. Ray 127–8
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 113
Liebig (LEMCO) picture cards of oysters 32
Linnaeus, Carl 178
Machin, Henry (London merchant) 57–60
Manet, Eduard 128–30, 129
Martial 54
Mayhew, Henry 65–71
Mieris, Frans van 133, 134
Mikimoto, Kokichi 200
Montaigne, Michel de 43, 106, 185
Montgomery, James 180–81
Moquin-Tandon, M. 110–11
Napoleon III, Emperor 44–6
Nash, Ogden 31
New York 75, 87, 205
Nield, Robert 80
Noble, Johnny 123
Ondaatje, Michael 158
Orata, Sergius 37–8
Orford, Suffolk 48–52
oyster
eating competitions 100
legislation 86–93
pirates 90–91
seller 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 64–71
stall 55, 62
pearl buttons 198–202
pearl diving 184–6, 192–8
pearlies 200–02, 201, 202
Pepys, Samuel 60–61, 172
Persian Gulf 178–9, 181–2, 192–3
Pinney, Richard 48–52
Ponge, Francis 208–10
predators 17, 17–19, 31–3
pull-tab oysters 33
railways 56
reproduction 24–6
Romans 37–9, 54, 176–7, 182–3
Ross, Philip 148–50, 148, 149
Rossetti, Christina 164
Rudwick, Martin 116–17
Russia 188–90, 188
Sala, George Augustus 77–9
Seneca 38
sex / gender 28–31, 30, 155–7
Sexton, Anne 167–8
Sforni, Bianca 144, 146–7
Shakespeare, William 180, 181
shell middens 34–7, 36
South Africa 36–7
Spain 184–6
Spartacus 167
SPCA 109–11
species
Crassostrea angulata 20
Crassostrea commercialis 20
Crassostrea gigas 20, 24, 51
Ostrea angasi 20
Ostrea chilensis 20
Ostrea crista 21
Ostrea cucillina 18
Ostrea cucullata 20
Ostrea edulis 20, 22, 98
Ostrea frons 20
Ostrea lurida 20
Ostrea megadon 21
Ostrea ochracea 22
Ostrea permollis 22
Ostrea quercinus 20
Ostrea retusa 20
Ostrea rostralis 22
Ostrea rufa 21
Ostrea talienwahnensis 22
starfish 33, 33
Stead, W. T. 97
Steen, Jan 133–5, 135
Stevenson, Anne 114–15
still-life 131–41
Swift, Jonathan 101
Sydney Opera House 151–2, 152
Taylor, Elizabeth 192
Thackeray, William
Makepeace 111, 159–61
The Oyster 10, 158
The Pearl 10, 158
tonguing 52, 205–9
Turner, Stephen 150–51, 150
USA 34, 35, 36, 40, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 72, 74, 100, 148–50
Utzon, Jorn 151–2
Valentino, Rudolph 190
Vermeer, Jan 171–2, 202–3
Vriendt, Frans Floris 132, 132
Walpole, Horace 186
‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ 19, 93–7, 95
Waters, Sarah 165
Watts, G. F. 103, 104
Webster, John 177–8
Wells, H. G. 127
Wheeler’s, London 81
Whitman, Walt 162
Whitstable, Kent 39, 41, 42, 61, 92–3
Williams, Revd Charles 19, 125, 198–200
World War I 79
Yonge, C. M. 28