One of the many changes that the pandemic caused in me was a reversal of my austere policy on hard-copies of cookbooks. Where once I had been donating my more rare books and avoiding paying for anything I could view in a library, I suddenly had the urge to build up my home collection more and more. Donations and acquisitions have nearly doubled the amount of books I have on hand.
One of the books I purchased is one of the earliest books that I had access to digitally, a slim 1884 fund-raising cookbook from Baltimore called “The Favorite Receipt Book and Business Directory,” produced by the Ladies Aid Society of the Church of the Holy Comforter.
The book is disappointingly anonymous, but the advertisements, which the book promotes as a feature, are plentiful and interesting.
Ads are sometimes the most illuminating part of a cookbook like this. Some books have a lot of ads that demonstrate a whole neighborhood’s worth of local businesses, like a phone book. It can present a window into what kind of goods were available. Ads for grocers offer insight into where the church’s women might shop. Ads for appliances show what would be the cutting edge kitchen equipment.
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