Books and Manuscripts

English, ca. early 18th-19th centuries. In three volumes. Sizes vary. Comprising dozens of MS. recipes across three volumes, in numerous hands. One volume includes extensive histories of important Royal and British family lines, with numerous original hand-colored drawings of coats of arms. Bindings vary, some boards detached or starting; scattered wear and soiling throughout each volume; numerous pieces of ephemera laid in.

An interesting collection of early eighteenth and nineteenth century manuscript recipe books, in numerous hands, featuring dozens of recipes, including different pickling and curing methods ("To pickle walnuts", "to pickle mushrooms", "to pickle oysters", "to cure ham", "to pickle pidgeons"), types of preservation ("to preserve peaches in brandy"), numerous recipes on making different types of alcoholic drinks, including beer ("to brew half a Barrel of small malt beer", "persimmon beer") and wine (ginger, elderflower, orange, raspberry, etc.), as well as recipes on baking and other types of sweets ("cream cakes", "to make muffins", "to make a chocolate tart", "to make a cream cheese", "for Gingerbread"), and preparing different types of meat ("to make a Ham ye Yorkshire way", "to hash Mutton", "a Marinade of Rabbits or Chickens"). Some medicinal recipes are found throughout each volume ("for a putrid fever", "For the Dropsy", "Green ointment for bruises", "For a Horse's cold") as well as instructions to make various household and dry goods ("to make fine Ink", "to kill rats", "to Black Shoes or Boots").