Royal Baking Powder Co.

My Favorite Receipt.

New York: Royal Baking Powder Co., 1886.

Octavo, 123 pages + ads. First edition of this product cookbook, a followup to the same company's Royal Baker and Pastry Cook of 1877. Royal Baking Powder, founded in 1873, was the nation's largest baking powder supplier, and a chief antagonist in the Alum Wars of the 1870s and 1880s. Locked into long purchasing contracts with European suppliers of cream of tartar, Royal tried to discredit its competitors who had discovered that alum, a much cheaper and more plentiful ingredient, could be used in its place. Aggressive marketing, including a series of popular cookbooks, were part of the strategy. Text block shows signs of brittleness, small stain to front board of publisher's decorated green cloth binding, otherwise fine. Scarce in the first edition. [OCLC locates 9 copies].