Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1799-1816

Description

The library has tentatively identified this recipe book as originally belonging to Sarah Ann Grace Sperling (1770-1850), wife of Henry Piper Sperling (1768-1847), based on references to Henry Sperling (1734-1825), the father of Henry Piper Sperling (page 54) and to Dynes Hall, in Essex, the seat of Henry Sperling (page 130). Henry Piper Sperling and Sarah Ann Grace Sperling had four children. They were a wealthy family who variously lived in Tottenham, now in North London (approximately 1791-1816), in Park Place, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (1816-1824), and in Norbury Park Mansion, Surrey (1824-1847).

The volume was compiled between 1799 and 1816 by a number of different individuals, possibly including Sarah Ann Grace Sperling. It contains 166 culinary, medical, and household recipes, which are listed in a page index at the front of the volume (pages i-vi). The culinary recipes include row hamptons (page 4), potatoe soup (page 7), blanche mange (page 11), Angellica green (page 15), Shrewsbury cakes (page 20), cream cheese (page 29), Italian cheese (page 32), flummery (page 33), cheap dish for the poor (page 45), cheese on toast (page 55), Sally Lunn (page 60), ice cream (page 62), chicken and rice (page 90), Mulligatawny soup (page 108), and a haggis for the poor (page 137). Many of the recipes are attributed to individuals: Miss Vernon (page 17), Mrs. Colville (page 24), L.A. Carpenter (page 29), Lady Charlemont (page 30), Mrs. Breton (page 32), John Bruce (page 73), Mrs. Spragg (page 77), Mrs. James Werthy (page 99), Dr. Crassford Clifton (page 128), Lady Wolesby (page 131), and Lady Frances Harper (page 148). Newspaper clippings with recipes are attached to the front and back inside covers and to several pages. The newspapers include the Yorkshire Gazette, Belfast Paper, and Glasgow Chronicle.