Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

ca. 1840s-ca. 1870s

Description

The precise physical nature of this curious item cannot be ascertained from the digital images and is not explained in the catalog record. The item comprises 61 digital pages of handwritten and printed material. Pages 1-20 are printed copyright title pages, which were book title pages deposited by publishers with the federal copyright office announcing a publisher's intent to publish a book. (Books were sometimes announced but never published.) Pages 21-35 mostly contain handwritten recipes, most of which are in the same hand. Pages 36-61 contain additional handwritten recipes in several different hands, including the main hand of pages 21-35, plus a few additional copyright title pages. What is unclear is which part of this material is part of a bound book. Pages 21-35 do appear to be written in a notebook, though the covers are not shown. Possibly the copyright titles on pages 1-20 are glued into the same book, or possibly they are loose. Some of pages 36-61 appear also to be glued into the notebook. Others appear to be loose.

The copyright title pages at the front of this item describe works of history and literature as well as cookbooks. Nearly all bear the name of a Philadelphia publisher and have dates in the 1840s. The handwritten recipes on pages 21-35 also include dates in the 1840s. The recipes on pages 36-61 contain a range of dates: 1846, 1857, 1870, 1878. The bulk of the handwritten recipes outline pickled fruits and vegetables, cakes, and griddle cakes. The recipes are standard for their time.