A rare 18th-century American manuscript culinary and medicinal recipe book of Catharine Morton(1767-1836) New York City, 1791 to early 19th century

With contemporary binding, stab-sewn, 40 leaves with two additional leaves laid in, including approximately 150 culinary and medicinal recipes written in several cursive hands in ink, front free end paper inscribed, "Catharine Morton/ 1791;" the rear end papers inscribed "Sophia Hester Morton," "E. Morton," and "J. Lee Morton;" and include a whimsical ink drawing of an American eagle with stars and the inscription, "American Eagle may he never loos a fedder.." One leaf with ink sketch of fancy dress costumes and a profile. Manuscript indexed in rear. 19th-century newsprint clippings regarding health issues mounted on front and rear paste-downs.

6 3/4 in. x 9 in.

Note

The celebrated Manhattan hostess, Catharine Ludlow Morton, elegantly inscribed this manuscript recipe book,"Catharine Morton/ 1791" - the year of her marriage to New York City attorney, politician, merchant and military officer Jacob Morton (1761-1836).

In his 1897 Prominent Families of New York, Lyman Horace Weeks characterized Catharine Morton as the doyenne “of the exclusive social life of the city.” Born to prominent parents, Hester Lynsen Ludlow (1750-1828) and Carey Ludlow (1736-1815), Catharine’s father was a wealthy New York City merchant whose staunch royalist views caused him to move his family to England during the American Revolution.The Ludlow family returned to New York City in 1784, and in the 1790s, Ludlow began construction on one of New York City’s most elegant homes-a 26-room mansion with gardens, stables and out-houses at 9 State Street. The “Ludlow Mansion” would become the home of Catharine and Jacob Morton and, according to Appeltons' Journal, the epicenter “of intellect, refinement, and feminine loveliness." The ball held by the Mortons in 1824 for the Marquis de Lafayette was long considered to be the most magnificent social function the city of New York had witnessed up to that time.

Provenance

Descent in the Morton family to Caroline Low Kenyon

A California collector