A book that helped keep hunger at bay for thousands of people in wartime Britain is back.

First published in 1941, Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps taught people how to raise birds and animals for eggs and meat by feeding them on kitchen waste when food supplies were desperately low.

Now, as a recession hits Britain, Penguin is republishing the 170-page handbook, which originally cost one shilling and sixpence, for £6.99, complete with the original illustrations.

Although it makes a slightly gruesome read, it is full of valuable advice for those who have started keeping their own animals in an attempt to save money.

A six-point lesson on slaughtering a rabbit is accompanied by photographs showing the reader how to dislocate the neck and skin the carcass with a penknife.

There are even instructions on how to turn 40 average-sized rabbit skins into a fur coat.

In the book, wartime authors Claude Goodchild and Alan Thompson wrote: "At no time in our history has this country been placed in such a critical position for the future supplies of all foods.

"The production of rabbit flesh is the most economical means of bridging our present meat difficulty."

They added: "All waste or surplus from vegetables is good food, also any leftovers from the breakfast, dinner, tea and supper table. Tea leaves, coffee grounds, bones, kipper skins and other fish waste, fat, rinds of cheese, bread, porridge, apple peels, cooked potatoes and the peelings.

"In fact, there is no known waste from human edible food which is harmful in moderation.

"Do not be content with using your own scraps; get others to save for you. There are plenty of people too busily occupied, or maybe some too lazy and unpatriotic to exert themselves and undertake any work of national importance."

Jenny Dean, an editor at Penguin – founded by Bristolian Sir Allen Lane – said: "With Britain in the midst of its worst economic downturn for decades, we thought this was the right time to bring it back."