British Family's Recipe Book: 1747-1807
Introduction
British family collection of recipes, 1747-1807 contains multiple formats of recipes from the mid 18th century to the early 19th century England, collectively handwritten by three families: the Cusloves, the Sackers, and the Nicholls. Encompassing a broad range of recipes, from culinary to medicinal, the recipe book contains not a single, unused page. Following its creation in 1747, the collection was expanded upon and exchanged between the three families for sixty years. Now, collection resides in the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts after being purchased by the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.The vellum-bound recipe book serves as the main thread of the collection and is where most of the recipes and distinct hands appear.
Genre and Historical Context
The History of Recipe Books
Recipe books,also called cook books, are defined as books containing culinary recipes, as well as instructions for kitchen and household techniques.[1] These books cater to a wide range of audiences with differing culinary backgrounds, from housewives to professional cooks.[1] The specificity of recipes presented can also vary as some books offer detailed recipes while others simply serve as memory aids for individuals already familiar with the dish.[1]
Early cookbooks were symbols of wealth or royalty.[1] The oldest recipe collections emerged from the royal families of monarchs and princes in the 15th century. At this time, the books were not written with the intention of sale but were rather written as aide-memories for the royal chefs responsible for producing delicacies that matched the grandeur of the court culture.[1] With the introduction of printing technology in the mid-15th century, the audience for the genre of recipe books gradually broadened.[1] Particularly, publishers began to publish recipe books with the housewives in mind, who had immense responsibilities at their estate, entrusted with not only the cooking but also the management of the entire household, including the servants.[2] Cooking books were also published for the middle class that presented simpler recipes suited for smaller budgets, such as the Plain Cookery Book by Charles Elme Francatelli, who was a chief cook to Queen Victoria.[1] The clear-cut divisions of the social class are evident in recipe books as publishers added labels such as “for the wealthy” or “for all classes” to signal the class of individuals the book was intended for. [1] The social class distinctions in recipe books have certainly declined, but these historical recipe books provide an important window into everyday livelihood and domestic knowledge of that time.
The Georgian Era
The recipe book, written from 1747 to 1807, is situated in the very middle of England’s Georgian era, an era that saw many changes and uncertainties through the start of the Industrial Revolution, the expansion of the British Empire through war and settlements, as well as the American Revolution. Amid such great changes, it is plausible that the citizens in England also felt great uncertainty about their future, prompting them to cling to what they know is stable, such as food and interpersonal relationships through the conduit of recipe books.
The Family and Social Roles of Recipe Books
Material Analysis
Binding and Format
Provenance and Significance
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Notaker, H. (2017). A History of Cookbooks: From Kitchen to Page over Seven Centuries (1st ed.). University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1rv6298
- ↑ MARKHAM, G. (1986). The English Housewife (M. R. Best, Ed.). McGill-Queen’s University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130hhpq