Soyer, Alexis. The Modern Housewife, or  Mènagére. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1851. First American edition. 363pp, dark brown embossed cover w gilt spine title and illustration of hanging game, rib roast, fish. Spine is frayed at top and bottom, starting to detach but still whole; light brown endpapers. One page of book reviews before title page showing full title: The Modern Housewife or Menagerie Comprising Nearly One Thousand Receipts for the Economic and Judicious Preparation of Every Meal of the Day and for the Nursery and Sick Room with Minute Directions for Family Management in All Its Branches. Title page has missing upper right corner (1″x1/5″). Light foxing throughout, text block is tight and complete. Good. Hardcover. This was a very popular title by Soyer who in the 1850s helped Florence Nightingale transform the health of the British and French troops in the Crimean War. A fascinating window into culinary culture of the mid-Nineteenth century, a difficult book to find intact and in original cover. (#148)       $105.00

Rorer, S.T. Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book. Philadelphia: Arnold and Co., 1914. 580pp +12p advertising. Pale red cloth cover, light stains on cover ffe repaired with black tape, front cover beginning to detach from book body, some staining on a few pages in cake section, otherwise text is complete and tight with no internal markings, contents VG. Fair.
a later printing of this famous cookbook, learn to cook barley soup, planked shad, buffalo steaks, stewed terrapin. (#149)        $44.00

Filippini, Alessandro. The Table: How to Buy Food, How To Cook It, and How to Serve It. New York: The Merriam Co., 1895. First edition. 505pp, 2hite pebbled cloth cover with green lettering, vintage owner’s inscription in pencil on obverse of engraved portrait of Filippini. Very light foxing on page margins, 1550 numbered recipes, stain spot on front cover, some rubbing on spine ends, endpapers starting to split from hinge. Text block is clean, tight, complete and unmarked. Very Good. Hardcover. Filippini was the chef of Delmonico’s in New York, the first restaurant in the United States. This book is a truly fascinating look at how the wealthy dined. The first section describes the various game and fruits and vegetables available in New York markets during the year. Quail, woodcock, snipe, plover, antelope, duck, pheasant, canvas-back duck, then moves on to fish, vegetables, even melons. How to set a table (formal), an entire year of menus. The recipes are truly astounding, with complex sauces. Eggs a la Jay Gould, Pudding a la Mrs. Frank Leslie and many many more! The most interesting cookbook in my collection (#150)       $88.00

Hirtzler, Victor. The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book. Chicago: The Hotel Monthly Press, 1919. First edition. 432pp, Original gilt-lettered green cloth; floral patterned endpapers, pencil owners inscription from 1923on obverse of author photo, minor wear on spine ends, foxing on pp222-3 from newspaper clipping, otherwise a near fine copy with clean text block and tight binding. Near Fine. Hardcover. A year’s worth of menus and recipes from one of California’s earliest “celebrity chefs.” The first section provides a year’s worth of menus for breakfast luncheon and dinner. Shirred eggs Imperial anyone? “Hirtzler presented seasonal menus demonstrating the highly sophisticated hotel dining of the time. A menu from 1917 featured such local foods as California oysters, sand dabs, and San Francisco squabs.” The St. Francis still exists in S.F.; the back section of this book has a sample menu from the era that shows the elegance and variety of the hotel restaurant. Back section lists Popular Handbooks for “Htoel, Restaurant, Transporation, Catering, Institution and Club Use. A beautiful and clean copy. (#152)   $72.00

Farmer, Fannie Merritt. The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1925. Revised. 805pp with advertising in back, tan cloth with brown lettering, cover has some light stains and light rubbing on spine and a darkened stain on upper left edge of spine, owner’s ink name/address from 1926 on ffe, half-title page and endpaper are beginning to loosen from hinge, otherwise the book is in very good shape, text block tight and clean with only one recipe lightly lined in pencil. Illustrated with photographs and indexed-there are 38 pages of ads including those for Hoosier Cabinets-Crawford Ranges-Pureoxia Ginger Ale-Bell Seasonings-Slade’s Spices-King Arthur Flour and many more-most are full page ads, including an early Kitchen Aid mixer. Very Good. Hardcover. This Fannie Farmer cookbook was first printed in 1896 and this edition was released 27 years later, with 600 additional recipes. The black and white photos show what prepared food looked like in the 1920s. (#153)        $12.50

Weaver, Louise Bennett & Lecron, Helen Cowles. A Thousand Ways to Please A Husband. New York: A. L. Burt. Reprint. 285pp +3p ads. A reproduction of a 1917 cookbook, unknown print date. Subtitle; “With Bettina’s Best Recipes, The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping”. This is a very solid, tight, and clean book, barely opened. Boards are covered with a bright yellow textured cloth, brown title/author and four thin decorative lines. Undamaged endpapers are identical; a charming green monotone line drawing of a wife making doughnuts and a husband eating one, cat on a chair, window and door opening to hollyhocks in the yard. Throughout the book are similar retro illustrations of a wife about the household duties. Chapter headings are decorated with smaller more detailed drawings. This book is part cookbook, part story, part moral lessons. As New. Hardcover. With a title sure to drive any feminist crazy, this cookbook is a window into the role of the wife at the beginning of the 20th century, learning to cook to please her new husband. Chicken a la King is a typical recipe example. Hard to find even as a reprint. (#154)        $31.50

The Dorcas Society. The Dorcas Cook Book. Vincennes, Indiana: A.V. Crotts, 1901. First printing. 233pp +index and memoranda. Green cloth binding, heavily soiled, w/wear to tips, spine worn with rubbing on edges, hinges starting to separate, section of pages is partially separated from binding but complete and in place. Owner’s inscription in ink on ffe dated March 21st 1901 Bloomington Indiana. Many recipes written in pen and ink on end papers and throughout book, newspaper clipping recipes tipped in and placed between pages, over 20 hand-written recipes in memoranda pages at end. Includes a 16pp copy of Indiana University News-Letter of May, 1918 with recipes from the Dept of Home Economics, and a small advertisement with choice recipes “used in connection with The Roberts Lightning Mixer.” Fair. Hardcover. This is one of those cookbooks that someone used as their primary source of cookery information and recipes, and to write in recipes given by friends. The Dorcas Society is a ” local group of people, usually based in a church, with a mission of providing clothing to the poor. ” Mrs. Clark and friends have  written in 46 recipes and advice on how to get rid of ants, cure earache. A true relic of days gone by. (#155)  $22.00

Hill, Janet M. Cooking For Two. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1919. Second edition. pp: xi, 407, index. Decorative cloth binding. ; many illus from photographs. . 7.5″ x 5″. DJ is tattered and missing section on front and upper spine, cover has very slight wear to bottom and top of spine, otherwise a seemingly unread book, tight, clean, with beautifully preserved cover art (see photo) Fine+ in poor dust-jacket. Instructs in the use of kitchen appliances, gives many recipes, and offers considerable advice on nutrition. It might be fun for a couple to try to eat for a week from the recipes in this book. (#156)       $19.00

Morse, Sidney & Curtis, Isabel Gordon. Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis’s Cook Book. Success Company, 1909. First edition. 1205pp. Black embossed cover with gilt lettering on front and spine, owner’s inscription on ffe, small complete tear on ffe, ffe beginning to separate from hinge, marbled text block, one page of index is folded with closed tear.Two books in one, with separate pagination. First book covers a myriad of household tips: House Furnishing, Heating, Lighting and Refrigeration, The Day’s Routine, Preparations for Wash Day, Soap and Soap Making, Wash Day, Ironing Day, Sewing and Mending Day, Sweeping Day, House Cleaning, and much much more. The cook Book section contains hundreds of recipes and a chapter on “Some kitchen kinks,” tips on cooking and kitchen skills. Good +. Hardcover. This is one of those “all-in-one” books so popular in days gone by that contained massive amounts of information in one volume, often sold only by subscription (salesman) or through the publisher. The first section is an education on just how complex and hard it was to maintain a home at the turn of the century. Part social history, part practical advice. (#157) $31.00