Carter, Susannah. The Frugal Housewife, or Complete Woman Cook...[Boston]: [1772]

CARTER, SUSANNAH

THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE, OR COMPLETE WOMAN COOK: WHEREIN THE ART OF DRESSING ALL SORTS OF VIANDS, WITH CLEANLINESS, DECENCY, AND ELEGANCE, IS EXPLAINED IN FIVE HUNDRED APPROVED RECEIPTS ... [BOSTON]: LONDON: PRINTED FOR F. NEWBERY, AT THE CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD. BOSTON: RE-PRINTED AND SOLD BY EDES AND GILL, IN QUEEN STREET, [1772]

12mo (5 7/8 x 3 1/4 in.; 148 x 82 mm). 2 plates engraved by Paul Revere; one or two closed marginal tears, foxing and toning, page 123 incorrectly paginated as 321, final leaf in facsimile. Full 18th-century calf; spine rubbed, front hinge starting. In red half morocco clamshell case.

First American edition of the second cookbook printed in America

This edition was advertised by Edes & Gill—the most important printers in Boston during the American Revolution—in the Boston Gazette on 2 March 1772 as "this day Published." The Frugal Housewife had been published in London and Dublin as early as 1765. When it was reprinted in America, the text made no mention of colonial cooking methods, or of ingredients found in the region. In 1803, an "appendix containing several new receipts adapted to the American mode of cooking" was added by the publishers in an attempt to boost the title's popularity, and help it compete with the bestseller of the day, Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1796). Simmons had, in fact, copied entire passages almost verbatim from Carter's work.

Carter's 500 entries include "approved Receipts in Roasting, Boiling, Frying," soups, ragouts, pasties, syllabubs, flummery, "together with the best methods of potting, collaring, preserving," and English wine making. Incredibly, there is also a cake recipe calling for six pounds of butter.

Rare

LITERATURE:
Evans 12348, 13186; Lowenstein 4

PROVENANCE:
Sally Parsons (bookplate to front pastedown)

Condition Report:
12mo (5 7/8 x 3 1/4 in.; 148 x 82 mm). 2 plates engraved by Paul Revere; one or two closed marginal tears, foxing and toning, page 123 incorrectly paginated as 321, final leaf in facsimile. Full 18th-century calf; spine rubbed, front hinge starting. In red half morocco clamshell case.

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