Receipt book [manuscript]. / [compiled by] Polley Lee, 17 century
1730
Items
Details
Title
Receipt book [manuscript]. / [compiled by] Polley Lee, 17 century
Created/published
Yorkshire, circa 1730s.
Description
1 volume.
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.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271936 (flat)
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Colt Acquisitions Fund. From dealer's description: "A fine cookery and medical manuscript, apparently mostly compiled the 'Polley Lee' who has written her name on the flyleaf, and dated it 1733. Below this she has added 'Miss Hitch marry'd Capt. Joxdon[?] 7 Jan 1730'. It seems that Polley Lee was not the first owner of this book, however, as the opening hand (on pp. 1-4 and 7-8 ) is a different one, and Polley's distinctive sloping hand begins at p. 9, carrying on until p. 27, after which a third hand takes over. After this it is difficult to disentangle several mid-18th century hands which can be seen, although it looks as though Polley Lee may have written the last two pages of recipes at the end, including one 'For ye Rumatisam', attributed to 'Miss Hitches' - perhaps the same Miss Hitch whose marriage is recorded at the front of the volume. The book consists of 160 numbered recipes, with a further ten (unnumbered) on two extra pages at the end. However, recipes 14-19 are no longer here, as one leaf (pp. 5-6) has been lost or excised. We can tell this was at an early date in the manuscript's history, because the corresponding leaf at the end of the volume would come after p. 54, and there is no break in the pagination, which is clearly also very early. But these two leaves were not lost before the index began to be compiled, as it specifies the recipes which were originally on pp. 5-6 - including a recipe for Daffy's Elixir (from Mrs Cooke) and one 'To Make an Amlet'. Six recipes thus entered have been lightly deleted, obviously once it became clear that they were no longer present. The book is wrapped in a land deed of the time of Charles II, mentioning land in Yorkshire, and it seems certain that the manuscript originated in a house in the county. There are several recipes which mention 'Lady Gallway', which no doubt refers to the wife of John Monckton (1695-1751), 1st Viscount Galway: his was an Irish peerage, created in 1727, but his family roots and political power lay in Yorkshire, where he owned Hodroyd Hall, near Barnsley. An art collector and member of the Society of Dilettanti, he was married twice, first to Lady Elizabeth Manners (d. 1730) and then to Jane Westenra (d. 1788) - it seems almost certain that it is to the second wife that the recipes in this MS should be assigned, as one of them (on p. 35) is dated 1745. 'Lord Gallway' himself is mentioned on p. 29 as the author of a recipe 'To Make Breakfast Cakes'. First page of recipes - not in Polley Lee's hand, and presumably earlier than 1733 Other names attached to recipes here are Mrs Ellis, Mrs Naylor, Mrs C. Tenant, Mrs Mellish, Mrs Smith (p. 37: this one also dated 1745), Colonel Forbes, Lady Ramsden, General Foulks, Lady Sherrard and Mrs Tonyn. Lady Sherrard may be Mary Sydney, wife of Sir Brownlow Sherard (d. 1748, 4th baronet), who died in 1758. The Sherards had land in Lincolnshire rather than Yorkshire, but the Ramsdens (also baronets) were a Yorkshire family, with their country house at Byram Hall, near Castleford. The Duchess of Ancaster is mentioned on p. 50, and Lady Ravensworth on p. 51: the Ancasters were largely based in Lincolnshire, and Lord Ravensworth (the title was not created until 1747) held land further north, in co. Durham. One can well imagine that attributing recipes to titled ladies and gentlemen might well have given private satisfaction, and even kudos (in her own modest circle), to a socially ambitious woman. Recipes in Polley Lee's hand. In characteristic manner for recipe books of this date, the manuscript contains not only a large number of recipes for food dishes, but also medical receipts. These are intermingled with the food recipes: 'To Pickle Samphir' is followed by 'A Cure for the Bloody Flux' and 'A Cure for a Looseness' (p. 38); and Lady Ramsden's Cream Cheese is followed by a receipt 'For the Rheumatism' (p. 40). Lady Galway's receipt 'For a Dropsy' is followed by Mrs Crawley and Lady Galway's cure 'For an Ague'.Another hand from later in the manuscript, with attributed recipes by Lady Galway and General Foulks" Ordered from Christopher Edwards D9377, 2019-06-28, email quote.