[COOKBOOK-MANUSCRIPT ] Compilation of manuscript recipes and medical cures in a wide variety of hands.
England: 18th century. Original panelled calf. 12 x 7 1/4 inches (30.5 x 18.5 cm); approximately 150 ff., carefully executed, with almost 400 recipes carefully inscribed in at least five different hands, many of which are elegantly accomplished. Common for recipe collections of the period, the volume was divided in two sections by turning it upside down and starting again from the back. This method was often used to divide medicinal and comestible recipes, though here the first section mixes the two freely (with "To dress carps with black sauce" being immediately preceded by "To take away the pimples or redness in the face"). The second section does consist solely of medicinal receipts and simples. Original panelled calf, worn and abraded with loss of leather at corners, spine, and edges; small mark on front and larger excised section on the back cover from the removal of a clasp. Joints partially open, ties holding. Minor chipping to edges of some pages. One free endpaper torn with loss to lower half; first two leaves of mixed section with small burn holes, some evidence of extracted leaves in a blank section.

Some of the preparations seem to be handed down through generations of a family, as in the "Receit of my Lady Grandmothers poppy water." Others originate elsewhere, and a number of names are cited in the text, including Lady Carr, Lady Licoatt, Lady Sidney Whyne, Lady Pendegrass, Mr. Henry Howard, and "Coz Thelivall." There are recipes here for sausage (sounding very good though quite laborious), cock ale (a widely lauded beverage of the period), scotch eggs, "Sir Walter Raleighs' cordial water" etc. etc.
For the most part, the collected recipes are much more cleanly and neatly recorded than is usual in culinary manuscripts; almost all are extremely legible. In addition, the free endpaper at the start of the mixed recipe section is decorated with an oval, hand-inked calligraphic design.

C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation

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