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WOMEN ADVISING WOMEN
Advice Books, Manuals and Journals for Women, 1450-1837

Part 6: Sources from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds

Women and Victorian Values provides an extensive range of prescriptive literature for those studying Victorian and Edwardian society from c.1837-1910.

Part 1 offers advice books, manuals and journals on a broad spectrum of areas including courtship, marriage, motherhood, household management, leisure activities, entertainments, fashion, society and beauty, womens rights, and health. Part 2 contains a further selection of self-help manuals and primers describing womens life in all arenas from the nursery to the workhouse. Parts 3 and 4 offer a wealth of rare journals aimed at women, and which are of value not only for the advice, stories and readers letters that they contain, but also for the contemporary advertising. Part 5 concentrates on the writings of sixteen Victorian authors from Sarah Adams to Charlotte Yonge, allowing a comparison and contrast of works written by domestic servants, wives, mothers, daughters, essayists, journalists, pamphleteers, novelists, historians, economists, and a physician.

In Parts 6 and 7 we focus on household management and domestic economy during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The collection contains a wealth of advice books, self-help manuals, recipe books, encyclopaedias and dictionaries, aimed to assist in the efficient and economical running of a clean, comfortable home, and to provide the family with regular properly cooked meals.

The titles have been selected from the printed cookery collection held in the Special Collections at the Brotherton Library, Leeds University. The collection is principally made up of two separate collections. Blanche Leigh, Lady Mayoress of Leeds, made a gift in 1939 of cookery books including historical works published mainly in Britain, but also including foreign publications. In 1962 another major gift was received from John F Preston. This important cookery collection continues to develop through further gifts, and purchases by the library.

The material is arranged alphabetically by author or, title when the author is not known. In Part 6 we offer 77 titles from the works of Eliza Acton through to Samuel Hole. The texts selected focus mainly on titles published in Britain by women writers. We have included a small number of works by male authors whose writings on household management and domestic economy helped to shape womens domestic role in society at that period.

Household manuals contained a wealth of information, and were widely read.

Manuals by Mrs Beeton were very popular, and her name became synonymous with cookery and domestic matters, for example the Book of household management (1861).

The work is written with clarity, with simplicity of preparation, with an emphasis on economy, and contains information on all domestic matters including duties of the mistress, etiquette, arrangement of dinner parties, child and infant care and household servants. Importantly, the manual appealed to all social classes. Some other household manuals included are: Jane Stokers Home comfort: a complete manual of domestic economy (1880) and Cassells book of the household, volumes 1-4 (1890?) by Cassell. Encyclopaedias and dictionaries were a useful reference resource for domestic matters, for example, Thomas Websters An encyclopaedia of domestic economy (1844) and Gibbon Merles The domestic dictionary (1842).

Cookery books were available for all class of household. For those on a low income the National Health Societys penny cookery book by Edith A Barnett (1880) provided the housewife with simple, easy to understand, commonsense instruction on methods of cookery, with basic recipes, as well as meals for the sick-room. For those of higher income advice could be found in Economical cookery for the middle classes by Kate Addison (1879), while Mrs Charles Clarke provided guidance for the wealthy with her work New high-class cookery (1907).

With the emergence of the middle-classes there was a widespread need for guidance and reassurance in the areas of social etiquette, and personal comportment when entertaining, when cookery and servants would be on display to guests. We include a selection of titles offering advice to the woman of the house in, Etiquette and entertaining by Lucie Heath Armstrong (1913), Manners of modern society by Eliza Cheadle (c1875) and The hostess of to-date by Linda H Larned (1899). The houswifes referee (1898) by
Harriet A De Sallis reflects fashions in cookery and entertainment with ideas and recipes for dinners and luncheons. She writes, I have not gone into plain so much as fancy cookery with recipes such as Pigeons la Bcasse, Pigeons la Grecque or Pigeons en compote. We include six titles by De Sallis.

Dieticians discovered the role of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, mineral salts, and vitamins in food, and advice books with an emphasis on healthy cookery became available for wives and mothers preparing family meals. Healthy eating was encouraged in titles such as The healthy life cook book by Florence Daniel (1917), Healthful cookery by Ella E Kellogg (1904), What must I do to get well? and how can I keep so? by Elma Stuart (1895), A manual of homeopathic cookery Anon (1846), and The new family herbal by Matthew Robinson (1863?). By contrast, the use of food additives often resulted in the adulteration of beer, tea, bread, pickles, and processed foods. In Dr Allinsons vegetarian cookery by Thomas R Allinson (1910), the author writes, Tartaric acid and citric acid also belong to the class of injurious chemical. They are often used in the making of acid drinks, when lemons are not handy. They irritate the stomach violently, and often cause acute dyspepsia.

As peopled travelled to Europe and further afield to the colonies, cookery books with foreign recipes became available for the adventurous cook. The wifes help to Indian cookery by W H Dawe (1888) was written for residents in India, and Anglo-Indian families at home, in England. It contains information on diet in India, purifying water, Indian servants, the Indian cook, the kitchen and utensils, methods of roasting and boiling etc, the preservation of health in India, and Indian weights and measures. Other titles include Leaves from our Tuscan kitchen by Janet Ross (1899) and French cookery adapted for English families by Frances Crawford (1853). Fannie Farmer was the Mrs Beeton of America, and The Boston Cooking School cook book (1899) offered 3,000 tried and tested recipes for all occasions, all larders, all purses. Cooks in Britain could also try these recipes.

Advances in technology saw the beginning of the installation of gas and electricity into some homes. Cooking by Gas by Nellie de Lissa (1913) gave practical advice on how to succeed with the gas cooker and includes recipes for gas cooking. Similarly, How to cook by electricity by Amy Cross (1910) covered all aspects of electric cooking, including the use of the thermometer and switches, methods of boiling, grilling and baking, and how to obtain an electric stove. Successful canning by Ola Powell (1919) reflects further advancements made in food preparation and storage during this period.

Some other influential and important authors included in the collection are: Eliza Acton Modern cookery (1845), The English bread-book for domestic use (1857) and The peoples book of modern cookery (1914); Charles Francatelli Modern Cook (1846) and The cooks guide and housekeepers and butlers assistant (1861); Alexis Soyer The gastronomic regenerator (1847) and The modern housewife or mnagre (1849). Also, three titles by Mrs C S Peel published during the First World War, Learning to cook (1916), The eat-less-meat book on war rations (1917) and The victory cook book (1918).

This comprehensive selection of material will allow a broader understanding of household management and domestic economy during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The reader will be able to assess how advancements in technology changed the way households were run, and what types of foods were available to the housewife. Improved transport meant that fresh meat, milk and fish could be transported rapidly to large towns. Steamships brought perishable fruits such as bananas from the Canaries and West Indies. Foods were preserved in bottles and cans, and sweetened condensed canned milk became a cheap and popular substitute for fresh milk. What was the impact of gas and electricity into the domestic household? How did the use of refined foods and additives affect the health of people?

Students will be able to use this material in conjunction with Women Advising Women to continue to compare the differing perception of household management and domestic economy during the period 1450-1837. Used in conjunction with Masculinity, 1560-1918 they can compare the type of advice being offered to girls and boys and women and men.

Thanks are due to Chris Sheppard at the Brotherton Library, and C Anne Wilson for their help in the preparation of this microfilm collection. I have found Anne Wilsons Food and Drink in Britain (Constable and Company Ltd, 1973) particularly helpful in preparing this publishers note.



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