Manuscript Location

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1801

Description

This recipe book of 76 leaves was written in a single hand or in two similar hands, lengthwise on the page. Culinary recipes are written in the front of the book; medical recipes are written from the back of the notebook going toward the center. There is a partial table of contents inside the front cover. The library has dated the book on the basis of a recipe copied from a newspaper dated 1801. A poem, "The Young Novice," by Mary Russell Mitford, is laid in the volume. It was published in a literary magazine in 1828 or 1829.

The culinary recipes are various, covering meats, fish, curries, pickled foods, mincemeat, preserves, puddings, cakes, vinegars, and wines. A few of the recipes are crossed out or are marked "not good" in a characteristic hand of the period. Most of the culinary recipes are attributed, including many to Mrs. Cliffton and to Mrs. Weltden.