Manuscript Location

Smith College, Mortimer Rare Book Room, Neilson Library

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

1817-1833 or thereabouts

Description

This is a curious book. The first page bears the signatures of Edward Imhoof and Ed. Imhoof  Bär. The same page contains the following note, in pencil: "Kochbuch von Ur-Urgrossmutter Kathar. Bär-Thirkell 1793-1868 --that is, "cookbook of our great-great grandmother." A photograph identified on the reverse as "Catherine Baer-Thirkell 1793-1868" is laid in at the front of the volume. In sum, this cookbook appears to have been attributed to Catherine Baer-Thirkell by her great-great grandchildren, possibly by the individuals who signed the first page. But Catherine Baer-Thirkell did not write all of the recipes in the book, which appear on numbered pages 1 through 46. These recipes are written in English, German, and French, and they are in several different hands. The English-language recipes appear to be in the same hand as a list of god-children at the end of the volume, which the library believes likely to be that of Kathar Bär-Thirkell. The authors of the remaining recipes are unknown. The book is written in a notebook whose paper bears an early 19th century French watermark. But if its primary author wrote in English, it was presumably compiled in the United States, even if the author's descendants, for whatever reason, wrote in German. The library title of the book is taken from a manuscript label pasted on the front cover, but the recipes may not have been entirely written in 1820, for the god-child list contains dates from 1817 to 1833.

Preceding the numbered pages with recipes there are 24 unnumbered pages containing an index that covers only the first 30 pages of recipes. Pages 47 to 200 of the book have been numbered but are blank. The list of god-children is written starting from the back of the volume, from pages 204 to 201, and is upside down in relation to the recipes.