By Dan Dupill

The gifts of the Culinary Historians of Southern California continue to enhance the collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. In addition to the approximately 160 new hardcover books on culinary topics (valued at $5,600.00) that were added to the Department’s general collection, the Culinary Historians have recently purchased four quite interesting and rare titles that are to be added to the Library’s Special Collections and housed in the Rare Book Room.

The second American cookbook, NEW AMERICAN COOKERY, OR FEMALE COMPANION… PECULIARLY ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN MODE OF COOKING : D.D. Smith, 1805, First Edition; is scarcer than Amelia Simmons’ much better known American Cookery. With an owner signature of Catherine Whitely dated 1820, this first edition is in its original binding and includes, in addition to recipes for broiling, pickling, puddings, and pies, etc., twenty pages on the making of wine, quite early for an American book.

We have also acquired a first edition of one of the most famous 19th-century Baltimore cookbooks, Mrs. B.C. Howard’s Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen: Baltimore: Turnbull Brothers, 1873.

Library users interested in Southern cuisine and history will welcome THE BLUE GRASS COOK BOOK by Minnie Fox, photographs by A. L. Coburn. New York: Fox, Duffield& Company, 1904. This book portrays in words and pictures the “Aunt Dinahs,” the “turbaned mistresses of the Kentucky kitchen” (from foreword by John Fox Jr.). Tucked in the back are several handwritten recipes on lined notepad paper ("White Cake" and "Flaxseed Mucilage" among them).

Lastly, we have the two-volume ENCICLOPEDIA DOMÉSTICA published in Mexico in 1853. This French-influenced cookbook and household guide was one of the earliest of its kind to be published in 19th-century Mexico, rather than in Paris.

To see these titles (and more than 2,000 other culinary titles held in the Rare Book Room), telephone the Rare Book Room appointment line at 213.228.7350.  Leave a message stating your name and telephone number and the title/author information of the items you wish to see.  Staff will return your call to set up an appointment.  Unfortunately, there are no “same day” appointments.  Alternately, you may e-mail your inquiry to rarebook@lapl.org.