About the Book
Mrs. H. L. Knight of Auburn, New York published this in 1881 through J. Henry Ivison, bookseller and stationer, and it reached a second edition. It is not a brand pamphlet and not a committee's work: it is one woman's four hundred recipes, described on the title page as “the result of long experience, and thoroughly tested.”
Its structure is its argument. The book is divided into Breakfast, Dessert and Supper — not into meats and puddings and cakes — because those were the three meals a household of 1881 actually had to think about.
It is also the oldest cookery text in this collection, and the difference shows: quantities by the teacup, ovens described as quick or moderate, and dishes — Angelica Wine Jumbles, Masselon Sally Lun, Federal Cake — that have simply gone.