Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce (born 1866), an American author and editor whose year of death is unknown, is known chiefly for compiling practical guides to social entertaining; public information about him is limited. He served as editor and publisher of What To Eat, the National Food Magazine, and as director of the food exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition and honorary commissioner of food for the Jamestown Exposition, positions that indicate some activity in the fields of food and exhibitions. Three of his works are included here, all in the "Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions" series of entertaining guides: Breakfasts and Teas, Dinners and Luncheons, and Suppers. Aimed at home social occasions, the series offers novel and practical advice on menu planning and the organization of teas and dinners in plain, usable prose, reflecting the dining etiquette and hospitality of middle-class American households in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and remaining useful today as a reference for the social life and food culture of the period.