The Mesa Workers' Cook Book. Compiled by the Leader of the Mesa Workers of the Mesa Presbyterian Church of Pueblo, Colorado.
Pueblo, Colo: The Mesa Workers; the Franklin Press Co., [1907].
Octavo (23 x 16 cm.), [vi], 106 pages. Index. Publication date and edition statement derived from the foreword (page [v]). Stated second, enlarged edition. An ambitious church cookbook, with nearly five hundred recipes, intended “to raise funds for missions.” Most entries are credited, though some to monikers such as “Ormie”, “Fancy Cook”, or “A Friend.” In some cases an aspiration to fine dining is implied, unless inclusion of the Victorian favorite Nesselrode Pudding is to be deemed usual fare. Of interest, too: French Pea Salad (with walnuts), Cress and Egg Salad (with mayonnaise and paprika), and Stuffed Beats (with celery). Hickory Nut Custard Cake deserves notice, as do the entries for Yellow Egg Tomatoes and Quince Balls. ~ A list of the Mesa Workers who compiled the original edition in 1897 is provided, and it seems probable that the name Jennie Weed, set off and centered, might indicate the “Leader” in the title-page attribution. Pueblo’s Mesa Presbyterian church, a handsome stucco building at the corner of East Routt Avenue and Michigan Street, dates to 1886 (a date that connects the Cook Book to the twentieth anniversary of its consecration). Any argument that the intervening years have been kind to it would be strained. The congregation dissolved in 1966, and in 1974 the church was converted into a restaurant, with table seating in the former sanctuary. In 2014, the building was sold to The World Mission Society Church of God, a bitheistic Korean movement that acknowledges Ahn Sahng-hong and the Mother of God Zahng Gil-jah as deities. Pages somewhat soiled; first signature separated neatly. Bound in grey publisher's oil cloth with black lettering; cloth soiled and corners slightly bumped. Good only. Scarce. [OCLC identifies six copies of the second edition (and none of the first); Cook, page 38; in neither Brown nor Cagle].
Price: $100.00