Barbecued otter, sautéed tortoise, sparrows on toast and live frog pie - a new publication from the British Library reveals weird and wonderful recipes throughout history

From the frugal to the fantastical, The Curious Cookbook: Viper Soup, Badger Ham, Stewed Sparrows & 100 More Historic Recipes contains some of the most unusual recipes from historic cookery books, from the Middle Ages to the Second World War. Collected by subject expert, Peter Ross, the book includes recipes from the earliest manuscript and printed cookery books in the English language and takes the reader through the lavish gastronomic spectacles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the austerity of the Victorian kitchen and the imaginative ration-book cookery of wartime 1940s Britain. In this cookbook there is far more to food than just taste. Some of the most outlandish recipes, such as a pastry stag that ‘bleeds’ and pies containing live frogs, were clearly designed to dazzle guests