For the 1906 edition of the book, The Illustrated London News 's reviewer considered the work "a formidable body of domestic doctrine", and thought that "the book is almost of the first magnitude".

It was illustrated with coloured engravings on nearly every page and was the first to format recipes in the layout still used today. The literary historian Kate Thomas sees Beeton as "a powerful force in the making of middle-class Victorian domesticity", [113] while the Oxford University Press, advertising an abridged edition of the Book of Household Management, considers Beeton's work a "founding text" [114] and "a force in shaping" the middle-class identity of the Victorian era. Whereas Daly and Forman consider such an approach as "nothing if not formulaic", Hughes sees it as "the thing most beloved by the mid Victorians, a system". By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.Gilt titles + circular vignettes front alslo black oval and ribbon decoration, but difficult to see! These included Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families, [33] Elizabeth Raffald's The Experienced English Housekeeper, Marie-Antoine Carême's Le Pâtissier royal parisien, [34] Louis Eustache Ude's The French Cook, Alexis Soyer's The Modern Housewife or, Ménagère and The Pantropheon, Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Maria Rundell's A New System of Domestic Cookery, and the works of Charles Elmé Francatelli. The Beetons came to an agreement with Goubaud for the Frenchman to provide patterns and illustrations for their magazine. Mayson became a journalist for the Daily Mail; he was knighted for his work at the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War.

Isabella went to live with her recently widowed paternal grandfather in Great Orton, Cumberland, though she was back with her mother within the next two years. In 1859 the Beetons launched a series of 48-page monthly supplements to The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine; the 24 instalments were published in one volume as Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in October 1861, which sold 60,000 copies in the first year. On a visit to London, Isabella was introduced to Samuel Beeton who had become a publisher of books and popular magazines. Her works speak for themselves; and, although taken from this world in the very height and strength, and in the early days of womanhood, she felt satisfaction—so great to all who strive with good intent and warm will—of knowing herself regarded with respect and gratitude.

It was an immediate success, selling over 60,000 copies in its first year of publication and nearly two million by 1868.