Because manpower has become a pressing war need, it is even more important than ever to serve nutritious meals that will keep the family in fighting trim. Katherine Fisher and Dorothy B. Marsh - Preface to the Third Edition

*This cookbook is reserved for Jolie B.* 

{HISTORY}

A 20th-century kitchen classic, The Good Housekeeping Cook Book was first published in 1933 and became such a trusted and beloved resource it was reprinted and updated throughout the 20th century.

This 1943 edition was published during World War II and contains a wartime supplement bound into the middle of the book. Both the book's introduction and the supplement provide fascinating information on important and creative ways to work within the war ration guidelines, especially when it came to daily necessities like butter, sugar, meat, and coffee. 

Based on the plethora of creativity that was involved when certain types of food were limited or not available at all, wartime cookbooks are some of the most interesting to read. Just like during the 2020 pandemic when common grocery store items suddenly became unavailable or hard to find, the wartime home cook of the 20th century also had to improvise when it came to shopping and meal planning. With its own batch of make-do recipes, the wartime supplement really highlights the realities home cooks faced when everyday essentials were severely limited. 

Revised from earlier editions, this book includes all sorts of recipes that were popular before the war too. As a cooking bible, and possibly the only cookbook a household might own,  it covered all aspects of meal planning, shopping, cooking, organizing, and entertaining. Tackling every meal of the day from breakfast to dinner including snacks and desserts there are also additional chapters, charts, and diagrams that demonstrate all sorts of basic kitchen skills, from how to carve a roast to how to make jam. Brunch menus, kid's lunch box menus, menus for one, and menus for a crowd offer additional inspiration.

One of the most endearing qualities of this book are the pages that contain handwritten notes and recipes.  They offer an intimate glimpse into the kitchen of one particular 1940s cook and the recipes she was most interested in preserving. Our favorite is located on the back of the title page and is simply called Andy's Favorite Pumpkin Pie. Another note next to the Plain Butter Frosting recipe on page 733, was marked with the word "excellent". These little details of time and talent are the spirit of the book, of the cook, that continues to travel the decades from kitchen to kitchen. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

- Published in 1943

- Contains 949 pages

- Includes 32-page wartime supplement bound into the middle of the book 

- Contains a few additional handwritten notes and recipes by a previous owner

- Illustrated throughout with color plates, black and white photographs, and line drawings

- Interesting recipes include Piccalilli, Maitre D'Hotel Butter, Baked Caramel Coconut Custard, Three Layer Spice Cake, Lemon Babury Turnovers, Christmas Fudge, Lime French Dressing, Baked Peach Halves, Breslauer Coffeecake Wheels, Sour Milk Doughnuts, Baked Sweet Potatoes and Apple Slices, Macaroni Souffle, Bombay Chicken Croquettes, Calawiki Ham, Orange Plum Nectar, Welsh Rarebit Toasties, Lime Apricot Cooler, Blueberry Marmalade, Dutch Plum Cake, Ginger Apple Shortcake, Cinnamon Stars, Shrewsbury Drop Cookies and Cider ice

- Interesting sections include information on Wartime Cooking, School Lunch Box Menus, Box Lunches for Grownups, Calorie Value of Food Chart, Holding Down a Soaring Food Budget, Cooking for a crowd Food Quanityty Charts, Kitchen Layout and organization 

{CONDITION}

In well-loved vintage condition, this cookbook has all the beautiful hallmarks of a  treasured helper in the kitchen. The cookbook cover front and back is tanned due to age, the exterior spine contains various spots and a small rip at the bottom corner, and the back coverboard is a bit scuffed in some areas. The interior pages contain various cooking spots and stains (nothing that interferes though with the reading of the recipes or the text) and there are some small watermarks on some pages where the blue color on the fore-edge has bled through on the top edge. The decorated front endpaper is scuffed in one area and a line of vintage tape secures the endpaper in back.  Handwritten notes/recipes were jotted down on blank pages in the front and back of the book in pen and pencil. Please see all photos. 

Having said all that all the pages are intact, the interior pages are bright and easy to read and the color plates located throughout are bright and colorful.

So pretty and absolutely charming in its aged aesthetic we wouldn't change a thing, but if you are looking for a pristine cookbook in perfect shape, this one may not be for you. 

{SIZE}

Measures 8.5" inches (length) x 6" inches (width) x 2.25" inches (thickness) and weighs just a smidge under 3 lbs.

{FOR THE COLLECTOR}

Find other editions of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook in the shop here.