Manuscript Location

Library of Congress, Rare Book/Special Collections Reading Room (Jefferson LJ239)

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1639

Description

This English recipe book, inscribed "Mary Pye hire [her] booke," is in two parts. Several individuals have written culinary and medical recipes from the front of the volume on the rectos of 79 leaves. From the back of the volume, upside down in relation to the front, recipes have been added on the versos of the leaves, continuing into the versos of the leaves of the front section. (The library record gives the total extent of the book as 94 pages. The record does not clearly state what is meant by this.) The recipes written from the back of the volume are captioned "Lady Philips Receits." This section includes one page of accounts and many of its recipes are medical.