And now for something truly vintage: this 1876 "manual of household duties." As you can plainly see, this is no ordinary recipe book. Here's the table of contents:
Toilet recipes? That would be shampoo recipes, more or less. In the first section on carving, the book addresses itself to the man of the house:
“When you attempt to carve do the best you can every time. Never allow yourself to be careless about it, even should the only spectators be your wife and children.”
It even offers diagrams. Here's one on carving deer:
The practical (if esoteric) wisdom doesn't stop there. Here's an extremely useful manual for seasonal eating:
And here's a recipe. This one, for Boston brown bread looked especially appealing to me. Think of it as New England in a can.
