Countess Morphy (1883–1938)

Countess Morphy was the pen name of Marcelle Azra Hincks, born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents were Louise (Pemberton) and Edgar Hincks. She moved with her mother and elder half-siblings to London as a young girl. She became a naturalized British subject in 1916. In 1934, she married Ellert Webster Forbes. Countess Morphy is today known mainly for her cooking and food writing, but she actually began her literary career as a dance critic. She wrote about ancient Greek dance for the Nineteenth Century, the Revue archéologique, and The New Age. She wrote about the great modern dancers of her day, such as Anna Pavlova and Isadora Duncan. In 1910, she published her first book, a slim volume entitled The Japanese Dance. Her earliet cook books consisted of light fare, including Lightning Cookery (1931), The Kiddies Cookery Cards (1932), 100 Ways of Cooking Eggs (1932), and Picnic Snacks, (1933). These were published in conjunction with Selfridges & Co., and were probably associated with work at the department store as a cooking teacher and demonstrator. Her most famous work, Recipes of All Nations (1935) was a massive 800-page volume with 18 chapters that each covered a different country. To her own expertise, she added that of various chefs in London's diverse restaurants. The book helped dispel myths about foreign cuisine and introduced many English homemakers to the ordinary cooking of other countries.