Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, edited by Isabella Beeton and published as a book in 1861, was a huge guide to running a Victorian home. It had highly structured recipes, unlike earlier cookbooks, and many illustrations. Isabella died in 1865, but the book kept selling, and later editions dropped her obituary so readers could imagine she had written every word. In fact many recipes were copied from earlier authors such as Eliza Acton and Hannah Glasse, which modern writers call plagiarism. By 1907 it had 74 chapters and over 2,000 pages, and it remains in print.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.