Items
Details
Title
Receipt book [manuscript].
Created/published
England, circa 1660-1720.
Description
1 volume ; 18 x 12 cm
Associated name
Halliday, Molly, active 17th/18th century, author.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. The "FAST ACC" number is a temporary call number. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Genre/form
Manuscripts (documents)
Cookbooks.
Cookbooks.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 270959 (quarto)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Eric and Mary Weinmann Acquisitions Fund. From dealer's description: "[HALLIDAY, Molly] English manuscript containing medical notes, household remedies, and culinary recipes. [n.d. Circa 1660-1720]. Durand watermark. Similar to Haewood 677 and 678, which would date this manuscript anywhere between 1648- 1680. “It is perhaps worth adding that Parliament put an embargo on French paper in 1678. English supplies of it would not ha ve vanished overnight, of course, but they must have shrunk quickly.” (Tandall, ‘Gentle flame’. 1983), Contemporary calf with double fillet gilt border and floral cornerpieces, rebacked retaining small portions of spine. Octavo (180 mm x 120 mm 35 mm). Over 200 recipes and remedies on 183 pages, plus numerous blanks and 1 inserted recipe. Contemporary foliation throughout and bordered at the end, suggesting it was to be continued and indexed. Presentation inscription to front paste-down, “For Molly (almost obliterated) Halliday from her G:d Mama”. Surname partly crossed through, but easily legible. This manuscript offers a fascinating insight into the transmission of medical knowledge across generations of women in the early modern era. There are three discrete but related sections, each in a different hand: [1]. Transcripts from a contemporary medical book. [Circa 1660]; [2]. Household remedies. [Circa 1670-80]; [3]. Culinary recipes and household remedies. [Circa 1720]. Of the three hands in the manuscript, the presentation inscription, written by the grandmother, bears closest resemblance to section [2] ‘Household remedies’. The recipient of her grandmother’s gift, Molly Halliday, is therefore the likely compiler of [3] ‘Culinary recipes and remedies’. The manuscript proceeds chronologically, with a short gap between the second and third parts. The grandmother’s accumulated medical wisdom has been gathered together and gifted across two generations to the young Molly Halliday, who, it appears, has continued the manuscript in her own distinctive style. It is a curious feature of what I am calling, Mol ly’s section, that her hand is highly polished, but her spelling inconsistent – it is perhaps more indicative of cultivation than of education. But, for all her quiet creativity, she does not lay claim to her identity and even where her name appears at the beginning it has been defaced and exists now only as a trace. [1]. Two short transcripts of medical notes entitled, “De frigidâ cerebri intemperie” and “De affectibus praecedente intemperiem consequentis: viz : Comate : 2 : Lethargo : 3 : Caro : 4 : Apoplexia”. [10 pages in a neat mid-17th century italic hand]. These were copied from Lazare Rivière’s (1589-1655) ‘Praxis medica’, (1640 and frequently reprinted). An English translation was published 1655, so this copy either precedes that date or they simply had no need of a vernacular version. [2]. The second part is a collection of household remedies and recipes. This substantial section, written around a decade later, appears to be the hand of Molly’s grandmother. Some of the recipes are short and simple, other are more detailed and explanatory, suggesting that although Molly may well have been administered these remedies, she had little experience preparing them. [99 remedies and recipes on 46 pages]. Affective disorders are a concern for the Halliday family. These are perceived through the terminology of the early modern mind e.g. “Weakness of ye. Heart, Dejections of the Spirits, Melancholly, Sadness...”; “the great Pain of the Heart”. Her descriptions of bodily functions have an earthy honesty, “suffer it not to congeal, dissolve & expel it ... [3]. Molly Halliday’s continuation of the manuscript dates from the first decades of the 18th century. Her section marks a change in both style and content. From this point on, the manuscript is written in a very neat italic hand and the recipes are predominantly culinary. [146 recipes on 127 text pages]. Whether it was written by Molly herself or by a servant is uncertain. However, we can confidently say that hers was a large middle-class household. She includes two bills of fare, one for the summer, the other for winter, each of three courses with four dishes per course. Whatever the season, they comprise mostly meat cooked in various ways with the occasional vegetable or fruit. Compiled over six decades, this rich and varied manuscript begins as a medical text, and gradually expands to include over 200 household remedies and culinary recipes. It bears witness to the exchange of medical wisdom as it passed from grandmother to granddaughter, and reflects the changing concerns of this household as the emphasis moves from managing health to enjoying food." Ordered from Dean Cooke, Manuscripts & Rare Books D 9243 2018-10-17, 2018 ABA Chelsea Book Fair, London, item 1.
Folger accession
270959