The Pentucket Housewife. A Manual for Housekeepers, and Collection of Recipes, Contributed by the Ladies of the First Baptist Church, Haverhill, Mass

Haverhill, MA: Steam Press of Chase Bros., 22 Washington Square, 1882. Octavo (22 x 15 cm.), 136, [6], pages. Advertisements. Index. Title page printed in red and black. FIRST EDITION. A church cookbook likely issued in concert with the dedication of a new meeting house in 1882. With approximately five hundred recipes, many of them attributed. Representative entries: Bean Porridge, Oyster Stew, Shaker Codfish, Chicken Curry with Rice, Potted Pigeons, Cannelon of Beef, Baked Tomatoes, Parsnips, Stewed Celery, Brown Bread (five versions), Corn Cake (four versions), Squash Breakfast Cakes, Sweet Apple Pancakes, Fried Bananas, Grandmother's Pumpkin Pie, Lemon Pie (four versions), Indian Pudding (five versions), Peach Pudding, Rhubarb Dumplings, Charlotte Russe (three versions), Strawberry Custard, Union Cake, Election Cake, Hard Gingerbread (five versions), Preserved Grapes, Barberry Jelly, Quince Marmalade. Also included is "A Black Man's Recipe to Dress Rice" (page 48), in dialect and lacking attribution, but a recipe with detailed description of process. Appended are laundry recipes and household hints ("The squeaking of boots may be prevented by driving a few pegs in the middle of the sole"). ~ Some light soiling and wear throughout, Previous owner's name, "Harriet B. Stover", in pencil to front fly. Edgewear to the attractively gilt-stamped brown cloth. Near very good. "Corrections" slip laid-in, with an additional handwritten correction. A few minor manuscript corrections and annotations throughout. [OCLC locates ten copies of this first edition; Bitting, page 464; Brown 1293; Cook page 110; not in Cagle]. (Inventory #: 9406)