Hillstown Grange No. 87 Cook Book.
[East Hartford, Conn. The Grange], 1946.
Octavo (23 x 15.5 cm.), 78 pages. Advertisements. Place of publication determined from external evidence. ~ Evident FIRST EDITION. A straightforward community cookbook with one hundred thirty recipes, the majority of them attributed, issued at a time when two of the original twenty-four charter members were still serving as officers. Cakes and confections in abundance, among them Honey Brownies, Hickory Nut Cake, Orange and Raisin Cake, Pear Pie, and Hillstown Mystery Pie, whose secrets will, respectfully, not be revealed here. A recent coinage shows up, too – if not mysteriously – as the first word in the entry Whacky Cake (which reads: 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 teaspoon soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sift all [dry ingredients] in square pan. Make 3 holes in mixture; in one put 5 tablespoons melted shortening, [in] another 1 tablespoon vinegar, and [in] the third put 1 teaspoon vanilla. Over all pour 1 cup cold water. Stir all together and bake at 375˚ F. about 30 minutes). ~ The meeting hall for Hillstown No. 87 was built in 1889, a year after the founding of the Grange chapter in what is now East Hartford, in the north-central county of Hartford. In its early years, for congregations who needed a home, it also functioned as a church. It seems an understatement to say that the community still remains active: in addition to frequent needlework and food-preserving get-togethers, there is still a “seed give-away” every March, a blue-grass night in April, and a harvest fair in September. ~ Stapled in blue wrappers, titled in black, with a cover photograph of the Grange House. Several pages spot-stained, and a few recipes checked in pencil, otherwise clean. Near very good. Unrecorded. [OCLC reports no copies; in neither Brown nor Cagle].
Price: $90.00