{HISTORY}

Every once in a while a well-loved cookbook will come into the shop that is equal parts culinary instruction manual and equal parts art based on its age and condition. Such is the case with this beauty. 

First published in 1907 for the Walter M. Lowney Chocolate Company of Boston, MA,  Lowney's Cook Book was an incomparable volume of recipes intended for new as well as seasoned cooks. It was compiled by Maria Willett Howard Hilliard (1864-1922), an educator, home economics instructor, and a school principal, who was also a friend of Fannie Farmer, not to mention a teacher at the Boston Cooking School, and a trusted culinary authority by Lowney's.

Maria was considered a bit of a genius in the home economics world starting from when she was a very young girl learning how to cook in her childhood home. Her affinity for domesticity turned into a lifelong affair. So much so that she didn't bother getting married until she was 49 years old. Tragically, her husband died unexpectedly just a few months after they were married. Maria never remarried, instead cooking and teaching remained her constant companion for the rest of her life.

Unique in that it contained over 1400 recipes for both beginners and experienced cooks, this book was intended to be a lifelong cooking staple and helper in the kitchen, covering all meals from breakfast to dessert.

Revised in 1912, Maria's goal for this collection of recipes was to make them as modern, accurate, and enjoyable as possible. Much expense was taken by Lowney's to print this 421-page cookbook, and the highly detailed and colorful illustrations made it a book of discerning beauty as well as function. 

A Boston mainstay from the 1880s to 2010, the Walter M. Lowney Chocolate Company and their accompanying Lowney Chocolate Factory was a popular and successful business in both the US and Canada, offering customers a range of high-quality chocolate confectioneries and cocoa products over the course of two centuries.   A sampling of Lowney's advertisements is included in the back pages of the cookbook with recommendations throughout the book to use specific Lowney's products wherever chocolate ingredients were mentioned. 

In well-loved condition, the aesthetic of this cookbook is pretty amazing. It contains many age-old cooking spots and splatters, tattered edges, pencil notations, handwritten recipes, and even soot marks from the wood-burning range. You really can't get any more intimate than that with an antique cookbook.

Most of the heavily soiled pages are in the baking sections, but really its interesting to peruse this book page by page, as there are little notes or cooking marks throughout giving insight into the home cook (or cooks!) who used this book religiously to feed friends and family. The only travesty about this book is that it doesn't contain the original owner's name. It would have been such fun to try and track down her story as well. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

- 1912 Revised Edition

- 421 pages

- Includes handwritten recipes, full-color illustrations, suggested menus, helpful hints on marketing, serving, carving, and methods of cooking

- Interesting recipes include Sorrel Soup, Planked Shad, Baltimore Chicken, Soubise Sauce, Banana Fried in Crumbs, Graham Bread, Orange, Peach and Pear Fritters, Flannel Cakes, Chestnuts with Chocolate Cream, Irish Moss Blanc Mange, Junket, Snow Puffs, Frangipane Ice Cream, Sour Milk Gingerbread, Cocoa Nougat Filling, Golden Parfait, Biscuit Tortoni, Claret Cup, Current Punch, Peach Butter, Spiced Gooseberries, Green Tomato Jam, Chicken Tamales, Mississippi Custard, and Maple Coconut Pralines

{CONDITION}

Please see condition notes above and also in photos. This cookbook is 111 years old and looks like it was a part of the everyday kitchen for that amount of time. Please note, about 1/3 of the cookbook contains heavily spotted or soiled pages. However, most of those pages are still legible with the exception of about half a dozen that contain either holes in the paper  (ie the recipe) or cooking spots that have covered over ingredients or instructions.

The spine is tight and all pages are intact. The coverboards are strong and secure although faded with age and use so the writing on both sides as well as the spine is very faint.

There is so much cooking love wrapped up in this book. That is what makes it a one-of-a-kind piece of kitchen history. The value of this book lies in its visual timeworn appearance, handwritten notes and also its antique recipes. If you have any condition questions about this book prior to purchase, please send us a message. We are happy to help!

{SIZE}

Measures 8" inches (length) x 5.5" inches (width) x 1.5" inches (thickness) and weighs 1.9lbs.

{FOR THE COLLECTOR}

Find more antique cookbooks with a well-loved aesthetic in the shop here.