[HANDMADE] [REPURPOSED] [COOKBOOK] RECIPES

c. 1955. Hardcover. 25.5 x 13.5 cm. A charming, homemade mid-century cookbook by an unknown maker. To create it, the author ingeniously repurposed a book, covering the outer boards with black wallpaper to make it uniquely her own. Inside are nine envelopes, each decorated with cut-out images of food and labeled by category.
The Soup envelope, for instance, features a bowl of tomato soup and Campbell’s Soup cans, alongside a neatly typed title and verse: “Soups – A bowl of soup, right from the fire, is a dish of which I never tire.” The remaining envelopes are titled Salads and Dressings, Breads/Sandwiches/Rolls, Fish/Poultry/Meats, Vegetables, Cakes/Fillings, Pies and Pastries, Canned Fruits, and Miscellaneous, the last playfully captioned, “If you want recipes of another kind, look here and see what you find.”
The cover is hand-painted with a rustic cabin-in-the-woods scene, and holes have been drilled through the boards to serve as a binding mechanism. Of the sets, only Pies and Pastries contains contents—several clipped recipes and one handwritten example—while the other envelopes remain empty. Clearly, this was a heartfelt project, conceived and crafted by a creative hand. Black painted cloth covered boards. Good. Item #4250

Sold