The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook
There’s a marvelous photo on Shuna’s blog today of a beautifully laid breakfast table. It has gorgeous mugs and plates and a teapot in contrasting colors and deliberate shapes. A lot of recent design elements are shapeless in an attempt to be elegant, so- for me- it’s nice to see something plain and well made. The other thing this photo put in my head was a memory of some very elaborate drawings of place-settings in the (extremely dated) Lily Wallace New American Cookbook (first edition 1941).
Lilly Wallace Place Settings
Books like these are part of an enormous literary tradition of ‘professional domestic scientists,’ like Lily Haxworth Wallace, and, if they have no other redeeming value as cookbooks (which they most certainly do), are fascinating snapshots of class attitudes and prejudices of the day. This book in particular illustrates the divide between the upper and working classes, and the emerging middle class. There are detailed menus planned around incomes from $1000 annually and less to $3000 annually or more. There are also instructions on training your servants to serve “in the Russian style.” I think my favorite quote from the book may be about wine:
“Wine, like music, eludes complete definition or description; and like music, its play upon the emotions covers a wide range of influence.”
That precedes this gem:
“As jazz may cause a music-lover to wince with spiritual pain, so may coarse wine cause the epicure to shudder with shock.”
Dated? Oh yeah, but like anything old, there’s a lesson in there… somewhere.
7 Comments to “The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook”
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I have the first cookbook with pages 1 thru 931 and I would like the other books.
Dixie,
Those books are out there, belive me. Haunt ebay.
Diane,
What do you want to know?
I have this book (1941) it is green with gold lettering, 930 pages, elcellent condition, no scribbles, missing or torn pages, rips snags nor tears of the cover. I love it and have allowd a few select cooks i worked with to copy some of the recipies. Interesting what wa being eaten during tose days and the prpparation.
I bought this cook book at an estate sale today because the previous owner had written interesting notes on so many of recipes. This book was clearly well used and the cover is so badly worn that it is held together with duct tape. It makes me wonder why someone in the family didn’t keep it as a sentimental treasure.
Have this book as it was given to my mother for her wedding in 1946 and passed on. Some of the index pages are torn, but, what a book!
This was certainly written for a different country in a different century. Must say many recipes are delicious and very simple to prepare.
Today, recipes are given names by their ingredients, back then they were not.
Really like using this book and find recipes not seen today!
My 85 yr old friend recieved a “THE Lily Wallace NEW American Cook Book.”
It’s title page is lost so I can’t date it other than the gift was to her for wedding and signed and dated by giver (not lily) 1941… it’s a green cover with beige deco graffics. AWESOME book!!!
Any Input appreciated…NOT for sale.