Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1696

Description

This book is inscribed on the inside from cover: Elizabeth Maynard her Book of receits 1696. The hand of the inscriber appears throughout the book's approximately 170 written pages, along with at least two other major hands and several minor ones. This suggests that the book may have been compiled by a group of acquaintances of Elizabeth Maynard. Whether she inscribed the book before the book was begun or after it was completed, the project is unlikely to have extended much past 1700, for the recipes are squarely of second half of the seventeenth century.

The pages of the book are numbered, mostly in the same hand; there are a number of gaps in the numbering, suggesting that some pages may have been torn out. The book is in three parts, each of which is indexed. (The indexes have some complications.) The first part is indexed on pages 1-2 and contains recipes on pages 3-52. Most of the recipes pertain to the sweet dishes, cakes, and preserves served at "banquets," or desserts, but there are also a few out-of-category recipes for puddings, meat dishes, and medicines. Part II is indexed on pages 67-70 and contains recipes to page 152. These recipes focus on dishes served in the principal courses of the meal, including meat and fish dishes, meat pies, puddings, pickled foods, savory sauces, pancakes, and waffles. (The last was a fad of the late seventeenth century English privileged.) However, as in the first part, there are some out-of-category recipes, such as the unusual treacle gingerbread made with six strenuously beaten eggs on page 154. The third part comprises medical recipes. The recipes begin on pages 156-177, an index occurs on pages 178-182, and then, after a long run of blank pages, the recipes continue on pages 258-281. (Both recipe clutches in this part are included in the index.)

Many of the recipes are attributed. An individual credited with special frequency is "Sister Hesilrige."