A New Collection of Genuine Receipts

A New England receipt book from the 1830s — cures, dyes, inks and kitchen secrets, preserved exactly as printed.

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To dye a silk shawl scarlet

First dissolve two ounces of white soap in boiling water, handle the shawl through this liquor, now and then rubbing such places with the hands as may appear dirty, till it is as clean as water will make it. A second, or even a third liquor may be used, if required: the snawl must be rinsed out in warm water.

Then take half an ounce of the best Spanish annatto, and dissolve it in hot water; pour this solution into a pan of warm water, and handle the shawl through this for a quarter of an hour; then take it out and rinse it in clean water. In the meanwhile dissolve a piece of alum of the size of a horse bean in warm water, and let the shawl remain in this half an hour; take it out and rinse it in clear water. Then boil a quarter of an ounce of the best cochineal for twenty minutes, dip it out of the copper into a pan, and let the shawl remain in this from twenty minutes to half an hour, which will make it a full blood red. Then take out the shawl, and add to the liquor in the pan a quart more of that out of the copper, if there is as much remaining, and about half a small wine-glassful of the solution of tin: when cold, rinse it slightly out in spring water.

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