Silver Jubilee Cook Book of Tested Recipes. St. Mark's M.E. Church, Brooklyn, New York.
Boston: Griffith-Stillings Press, 1928.
Octavo (23 x 15 cm.), 160, [ii] pages. On title page verso: Mrs. A. R. Dietrich, Chairman, Recipe Committee. Publisher's cloth silver, textured, with black lettering. Advertising on endpapers and on initial and final pages. Blank pages after chapter sections. Hybrid contents-index (page 9). FIRST EDITION. St. Mark's at Ocean Avenue and Beverly Road, organized in 1903, its new buildings and Aeolian Organ dedicated in 1926, was among the more high-profile and prosperous, celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary with a shiny, silver clothbound anthology of some 525 signed recipes, published in Massachusetts by a recently restructured printing firm, extending from two houses rooted in the previous century, Griffith, Axtell & Cady of Holyoke and E.B. Stillings of Boston. The recurrence of grapenuts (lower case) and pineapple supplies evidence of minor themes in late 1920s Brooklyn kitchens, and a Philadelphia connection oddly suggests itself (Philadelphia Cinnamon Bun; Philadelphia Pepper Pot; Philadelphia Scrapple; Philadelphia Salad. But a streak of innovation earns notice too: Asparagus Shortcake; Grapefruit Sticks; and a stew named "Shamfine" (with quotes) that reads, mysteriously, as a relative of Moroccan tagine – albeit without the spices. A bit of age-toning to edges of text block, in patterned silver cloth, printed in black with the famous Owen Meredith quote on the rear panel, and the title and an image of a woman baking on the front panel. Very good. [OCLC locates nine copies; Brown 2299; not in Cagle].
Price: $120.00