Lot 14
EARLY 18th CENTURY MS RECIPE BOOK
Recipe book of Mrs Janet Maule
Auction: 8 July 2003 at 12:00 BST
Description
Inscribed by her on the front pastedown and dated June 25, 1791. The small 4to. book is bound in limp vellum, and comprises 41 leaves of which some 28 contain recipes. Janet Maule is again recorded as the owner of the book at the end, but in a different hand. The work is compiled by different hands. The fore-edges of the first few leaves are a little frayed.
Recipe book of Mrs Janet Maule inscribed by her on the front pastedown and dated June 25 1701. The small 4to. book is bound in limp vellum, and comprises 41 leaves of which some 28 contain recipes. Janet Maule is again recorded as the owner of the book at the end, but in a different hand. The work is compiled by different hands. The fore-edges of the first few leaves are a little frayed.
Note: A fine, very early example of a Scottish manuscript recipe book, dating from a period when increasing numbers of gently born women had the necessary skills and time to write down recipes. (Previously, these would have been passed between relatives and friends by word of mouth). We have been unable to identify Janet Maule, but she may have been a member of the family of the Earles of Panmure (later Dalhousie).
A high proportion of the recipes are for preserving fruit and vegetables from the orchard and kitchen garden: the marmalades, jellies and conserves are typical of the period. There are also a number of recipes for meat pies, in effect another form of preservation as the meat would remain edible for some time sealed in its pastry case. The recipes for cheese cakes are rather on the early side for a book of this date, but the explanation may be that the volume was started in 1701 and added to over a number of years. There is certainly evidence of more than one hand, and it may be that the volume was used and added to by several members of the family.
We are most grateful to Olive Geddes of the National Library of Scotland and author of The laird's kitchen: three hundred years of food in Scotland,1994 for help in preparing this catalogue entry.