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MARY ANN PROSSER : c1880s PAIR OF FASCINATING, ELEGANT VICTORIAN ERA MANUSCRIPT COOKBOOKS HANDWRITTEN BY A SOON TO BE BRIDE FROM A NOTED EDINBURGH FAMILY STARTED BEFORE HER WEDDING TO SIR JOHN PROSSER, WRITER TO THE SIGNET AND A FUTURE CROWN AGENT FOR SCOTLAND

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is a couple (2) of elegantly written highly detailed cookbooks of Mary Ann Prosser nee Taylor (1862?-1915), a wife of Sir John Prosser, Writer to the Signet, and grandmother of William David Prosser, Lord Prosser, a prominent lawyer and advocate for the arts in Edinburgh. One of the books has 43 pages filled, the other 88 pages. There is a handwritten date, July 1886, in one of the books, which was two months before her wedding, and the address of their family home in Edinburgh: 4 Bellevue Crescent. The books contain many recipes typical for Scottish and English cuisine of that time, and of French dishes. Unlike many cookbooks that presume previous cooking experience, this one contains minute nuances about cooking times, quantity of ingredients, kitchen utensils to use, giving an insight into lifestyle and diet of a well-off Edinburgh family in 1880s. The first book starts with the basic recipes how to boil vegetables, fry herring and haddock: "Little fresh haddock: Skin them, sprinkle with salt, dip in flour, paint-over with egg, dip in bread crumbs, pop into boiling fat for 3 minutes", and also includes more complicated dishes, like a turtle soup, which took 3 days to prepare. It describes a wide variety of seafood dishes, like Finnan haddock and lobster pates, and extensive use of entrails typical for Scottish cuisine: "Sheep kidney for frying, ox kidney for stewing…", recipes of savory and sweet omelets, many sauces: apple brandy, mint, sherry, Soubise, Hollandaise, sauce for plum pudding, variety of desserts, including traditional Scottish tipsy cake, fig pudding, and molded jelly desserts, favorites of Victorian times, and also many recipes of French origin, like Maitre d'Hotel Butter or Potatoes a la Duchess. There are also a couple of recipes using curry which was becoming very popular in Scotland at that time. The second book is not dated, it includes an index with 83 recipes, and contains few brief remarks regarding cooking process. Last pages are missing. There are many wonderfully sounding recipes of sweet and savory dishes, of which we give two examples: "Mock turtle soup - calf's head blanched, washed and boiled in water and salt, and a lump of beef; skim it when it comes to the boil, put in whole carrots, whole onions with stalks, celery and basil. When cooked take out the calf's head, and take the meat off the bones, put bones back into pot, and as many other bones as you have and let them boil for long enough!! Strain it, put on to boil with little pieces of fat from calf' head, put in some cornflour (having mixed it with some cold water or sherry) (the skins of the onions give the soup nice brown color)." "Chocolate macaroons: Ingredients - 3 oz almonds, 11/2 icing sugar, 11/2 castor sugar, 1 chocolate (if chocolate sweet, put in ½ oz), whole almonds (extra choc. + ½ oz less sugar), 1 white of eggs (perhaps a little more), wafer paper. Bleach and chop the almonds, pound in a mortar with the sugar, chocolate, white of egg (not beaten). Bind and place in small rounds of wafer paper (one round of wafer paper cut in four). Place a half almonds on top of each macaroon and bake in a very moderate oven till dried up - ¾ to an hour or longer if necessary. Before putting macaroons in the oven place them on the oven tray, say on the rack of the range, for an hour or an hour and a half to set. Glaze with white of egg and sifted sugar or water and sugar.". Illustr.: /. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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