Hand-Written Manuscript Cookery Book c. 1869-1915.

1869-1915, 1869. Hard Cover. Quarto, unpaginated but 93 manuscript leaves, 32 blank, 6 further inscribed then 8 blank apart from a small pencil diagram to single leaf. Modern olive green cloth with gilt titles to spine. [With] 36 page unpaginated disbound manuscript notebook loosely inserted. Bookplate of noted cookery collector Irene Dunn to front pastedown with printed weighing scales motif. Some leaves soiled and/or inkstained, with several newspaper article recipes pasted inside. Disbound notebook a little soiled and corner creased with 6-inch tear across 3 leaves and some leaves partially detached, but still completely readable. English country house recipe book covering Swiss Roll to Christmas Cake, featuring mainly sweets and puddings but also including substantial medicinal notes and recipes for invalids, and a few household hints. Mostly written in the same hand, a few later recipes have been added. The disbound insert (in the same hand as the bound volume) is headed "Heaton Hall August 9th '69" which was the period in which the Hall, near Newcastle upon Tyne, belonged to the Potter family of local brewers. By the time of the 1901 census Mary Potter is described as a 72 years old widow and head of the household. Living with her are her son, Charles, and daughter, Hannah. Also listed as living in the Hall, are Hannah Beckworth, the cook. It is unusual to be able to identify the name of the cook from a 19th century country house. Some of the recipes are local to Northumberland such as Northumberland Scones and Fenwick Pancakes.