With New Delights: a biscuit-based installation by Dr Ella Hawkins
29 May – 29 October 2023
Installed on National Biscuit Day – the British holiday that allows us to truly appreciate the biscuit – Dr Ella Hawkins’ remarkable biscuit-based artwork responds to the collection at Milton’s Cottage and is installed alongside the first edition books, maps, prints and ephemera that inspired them.
Ella, a Teaching Fellow in Early Modern English at the University of Birmingham, has also created a biscuit-based treasure hunt so you can search the museum for the 13 items that she’s taken inspiration from.
The biscuits are flavoured with rose, the plant most frequently mentioned in Paradise Lost after the Forbidden Tree, and have a Royal icing base with designs either piped in royal icing or painted on using food colouring gels and vodka.
As the earliest surviving biscuit dates back to 1784, we hope that Ella’s biscuits will be part of our collection for many years to come.
