A well organised manuscript recipe book including various cookery recipes alongside medical and household remedies. There is also a list of suppliers and tradespeople in London.
The manuscript is comprised of two different sections, each with its own index: “Receits in Cookery,” which occupies the first 193 pages, and “Medical Receits,” which occupies the last 58 pages and is preceded by a list of shops and manufacturers in London. Most of the recipes are attributed to contemporary ladies, such as Lady M. Hussey, Mrs Haines, Mrs Powlett and Miss Holbourne. The receipt for “Apple Marmalade” was given to the compiler by a “family friend” in 1835, the oldest date recipe in the volume (although many of the other recipes are no doubt much earlier). There are a few recipes copied from printed books, such as the recipe “To stew Pippins whole” (p. 125), copied almost word from word from The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (first published in 1769). Some of the medical “receits” come from kown doctors including Dr. John Huxham (1692-1768), an English physician notable for his study of fevers.
The manuscript is very well organised, with an initial index that divides the food recipes by category, starting with soups, stews and broths. Typical English meats are present, like beef, mutton and veal, and a recipe for “Stewed Ox Cheek” (p. 27). The longest section is dedicated to puddings, like cheese pudding, lemon pudding, custard pudding, and an original “My Pudding” (p. 113). In the pastry section there are several recipes of continental desserts, such as “Dutch Puffs,” “German Puffs” (p. 126) and “Italian Puffs” (p. 131). Also included are preserves, cakes and wines, like “Doughnutts” (p. 162), or the traditional “Bath Bunns” (p. 161, 165, 166) and “Ginger Wine” (p. 190). The “Medicals” include remedies for minor ailments, such as “for a cough” (p. 15), “asthmatic pills” (p. 17) or “for the sting of a wasp” (p. 18), but also treatments for more serious illnesses, such as a “Cholera mixture” (p. 31) and a recipe for the “hooping cough” (p. 17 crossed out and a new one on p. 20).
There are also recipes for household tasks such as, “to destroy bugs” (p. 56) or “to cement China” (p. 55) and a number of colour dyes. There are also recipes to make “ink” and “permanent ink” (p. 51).
The list of address that precedes the medical section of the manuscript offers an interesting window into the everyday life and trade of nineteenth century London. The list of addresses of tradespeople include Charles Lewis, in 28 Oxendon Street, a “very good” dyer (p. 6), active around 1843 and “Alex Rowland, 20 Hatton Garden” (p. 5), known for selling macassar oil, used primarily by men throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries as a hair conditioner. There is also a bookseller, William Boyls, in “4 Bowling Str., Portland Place” (p. 4), who was active between 1828 and 1846.
Provenance: We have been unable to trace the original family that owned this book but they were presumably a relatively comfortable London family. The manuscript appears to have remained in use for some time with a few later recipes dated in the second half of the 19th-century. Loosely inserted is an empty envelope addressed to a Rev. I. Whately from Brook Lodge, Sunninghill (Staines) and a cutting from Country Life magazine, dated April 1918, entitled “The Rare Book of Recipes”.
.
