Got a new addition to the collection: The White House Cook Book.
It was written/compiled by Mrs. F.L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemman. She was a seasoned cook and Ziemman served in the White House as a chef. It’s a very thick book with about 500 or so recipes, cooking techniques, household cleaning tips, etiquette as well as recipes from some First Ladies of the time.
It’s very comprehensive and, even though it’s as thick as an encyclopedia, it became a hot seller. Which is why it’s interesting to me that these are considered so “rare” and hard to find. A lot of people had a copy of this one back in the day.
Having said that: online, these tend to be a bit pricey; but, the closer you get to an original printing, the better.
I’ve been at an estate sale when someone has asked if a White House cookbook was available. (It wasn’t.)
So I’ve never really had an interest in getting one, unless it was a) Old and b) cheap.
Not too long ago, I came across on online auction that had one. It didn’t have a lot of info. The seller just had a picture of it in his hand and just a quick note that it was an interesting old cookbook. Oh, and that he’d be willing to ship it.
This seemed like an out-of-the-way auction so I registered for the sale, saved the info and went back to it as the lot went up for sale. The opening bid was $20 and I ended up getting some competition. But after a slight bidding war, I ended up winning it for a little over $30.
Now, getting it shipped was another story. The auctioneer dropped off about two tons of items at the shipping company and it took them a little over a week to get in touch with me. They shipped it to me via Media Mail (thank you USPS for an affordable shipping option!)
About a week later, it finally arrived!
It’s definitely old, nice to learn that this is a third printing from 1899.
And look at this page with names of the previous owners written on it. What lovely handwriting!
Elizabeth Irene Dollenger and Blanche T. Chaney? Charrey?