Manuscript Location

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1861-1890

Description

This anonymous English volume of 69 leaves is written in two hands, a primary hand that is present throughout the volume and a secondary hand that appears sporadically (pages 44-45, 51-53). The volume contains ninety-six handwritten recipes as well as numerous pasted-in recipe clippings. Most of the recipes are culinary. They include lemon mince pies (page 2), transparent gingerbread (page 5), gingerbread (page 13), Ramsgate pudding (page 15), rissoles (page 20), Bakewell pudding (page 23), Mrs. Clifford’s cakes (page 23), Lady Lowther’s pudding (page 27), fever mixture (page 46), to dress cold fish (page 47), and rhubarb jelly (page 62). In addition to recipes, the volume includes a passage about being the “mistress of a household" (pages i-ii), a reading list compiled between 1861 and 1890 (pages 38-44), and an index near the end. There is a hand-sewn pocket between the last leaf and the back endpaper. The library record does not make clear what the pocket contains.