[Flint & Barker (Worcester, Mass.)]

The People's Cook Book of Practical Receipts for Every-Day Dishes. Compiled and Collected from the most Reliable and Approved Sources [by] Flint & Barker.

Worcester, Mass. [The Company]; C. F. Lawrence & Co., Printers, [circa 1885].

Small octavo (19 x 12 cm.), 40 pages. Cover title: Do You Keep House? If Not, Why Not? Printer from cover. Illustrated advertisements interspersed. An engaging promotional cookbook for Flint & Barker, a Worcester-based household furnishings supplier. The ninety or so recipes found here are indeed "every-day", although Breeze Pudding and Hickory Nut Macaroons at the very least evoke something of an era. What grabs attention, rather, are engravings of the sort that might have been seen in the British weekly Punch, including a set of caricatures designed to show the metamorphosis of a curmudgeon into a happy hysteric - a result of a satisfactory purchase from Flint & Barker, no doubt. There are, too, intricate commercial images – a rattan baby carriage; a parlor chair with silk fabric – but the comedy rules, as in the case of a husband rudely awakened by a folding bed. The artist(s) is (are) uncredited, except in the cover image, which exhibits the name "Hooper". ~ Flint & Barker was established in 1884, with showrooms in the Whitcomb Buildling at 86 Front Street, opposite Salem Square. Before forming their partnership, Charles Henry Flint (1861-1912) and Edward Barker (1859-1895) had come to Worcester from Fall River – of textile manufacturing fame, the so-called "Spindle City." The former had learned the house furnishings business from his father; the later had acquired considerable experience in the mills during the economic boom of the 1870s. Eventually the firm outgrew its quarters and moved to 244 Main Street, where members of the Flint family reincorporated the business in 1912. Some pages mildly stained. Shelfworn and soiled, spine and corners chipped; rear panel fore-edge with two small closed tears. Sewn, in faded wrappers, with an illustration depicting an elaborately gowned woman and her maid. Good. Scarce. [OCLC locates one copy of this Worcester issues, and a second copy with thirty-two pages(both at Special Collections of the University of Pennsylvania), and one copy of a Hartford issue for Geo. W. Flint & Co.(Conn. Historical Society), with 32 pages].

Price: $90.00