English recipe book, 19th century

Collection of medical, veterinary, household and culinary recipes, in several hands, compiled over the course of the 19th century and early years of the 20th. With a partial index to the contents and several loose recipes enclosed.

The first section of the collection, occupying pp. 1-156, seems to be the work of a single compiler, working between about 1834 and 1863, to judge from the outside dates given against some of the contents. The recipes recorded are for a mixture of medical, veterinary and domestic products for the most part, and seem to indicate the activities of a retail chemist. Among the few entires which are not recipes is a memorandun on the 'preservation of dead bodies', p. 90. Several medical practitioners are cited as sources of recipes or prescriptions, including 'Dr Wakes' [either Charles Wake MD, of Warwick, or his namesake, of Leamington, Medical Directory, 1848], pp. 4, 31, 'Buxridge, surgen [sic], Worcester's Yeomanry', p. 23, 'J. Woolfenden, Chir', p. 46, and 'William Middleton, Chir' [of Leamington], pp. 84, 96, 111-12. There are also references to Warwickshire-based chemists, such as J. J. Richards of Henley-in-Arden, p. 9, and H. Baly, of Warwick, several of whose product labels are stuck in.

The second section of the book, occupying pp. 158-254, comprises a collection of later 19th century and early 20th century cookery recipes in multiple hands. The lastest date recorded is 1910. In addition, a few culinary recipes have been entered from the rear of the volume.