Gender Studies at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Clark Library holds dozens of rare cookery books and cookery manuscripts from the seventeenth century to the present day. These slices of everyday life, mostly from Great Britain, transcend gender roles. Recipes and cookery collections by men and women are featured in the collection, and the Clark Library emphasizes the varied ways people of many genders engaged with domesticity over the last few centuries. The following subsections are a sampling of the collection.

• Cross Family, John McPherson Brackenbury, Richard Cross, and Ann Cross. [Cookery Book]. 1724–1740. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; f MS.1986.002: Many members of the Cross family are mentioned in the recipe book. There are recipes for venison, gingerbread, bruise treatment, orange wine, and more. 
• Drake, James. [Cookery Book]. ca. 1780. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2015.003: The manuscript cookery book is written in a uniform late-eighteenth-century handwriting with recipes for lemon drops, marrow pudding, mead, lemon wafers, and more. 
• Hornyold Family, John Steegman, and Richard Morland Tollemache Westbury. [Cookery and Medical Commonplace Book]. 1662–1722. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2012.011: The manuscript contains cookery and medical recipes. It is written in several hands from various generations, and it circulated amongst members of the Catholic Hornyold family of Blackmore Park. Several recipes are attributed to other members of the English Catholic community. There are recipes for poppy wafers, mead, gooseberry wine, pickled French beans, lemon cream, birch wine, angel salve, broom oil, stewed apples, and more. 
• Lamb, Patrick, John Nutt, and Elizabeth Nutt, and Abel Roper. Royal-Cookery, or, the Compleat Court-Cook: Containing the Choicest Receipts in All the Several Branches of Cookery…: As Likewise Forty Plates, Curiously Engraven on Copper, of the Magnificent Entertainments at Coronations and Instalments, of Balls, Weddings, & c. at Court, as Likewise of City-Feasts: To Which Are Added Bills of Fare for Every Month of the Year. London: Printed for J. Nutt and A. Roper, 1716. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; TX705 .L21 1716 *: This collection of recipes was by Patrick Lamb, the principal cook to King Charles II, King James II, King William and Queen Mary, and Queen Anne. There are recipes for fried artichokes, crayfish bisque, plum cake, poached eggs, almond milk, caper sauce, and more. It also presents table layouts for feasts. 
• Losh, James. [Cookery Book]. 17th century. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2015.001: The recipes are by an unnamed member of the Losh family, as indicated by the bookplate of James Losh and the single handwriting responsible for the entries. The family patriarch, James Losh (1763–1833), was an English lawyer in Newcastle upon Tyne who advocated for the abolition of the slave trade. There are recipes for seed cakes, chocolate almonds, baked custards, preserved raspberries, pickled walnuts, haggis, cream cheese, rheumatism treatment, rabies treatment, red ink, map washes, and more. 
• Poole, Elenor, and Joh Cobb. [Cookery Book]. England, 1733–1735. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2003.001: The manuscript of cookery and medical recipes is primarily in Elenor Poole’s handwriting. There are recipes for caraway cake, pickled barberries, milk punch, cough treatments, saline draught, and more. Poole also wrote a menu in the book called, “An Anigmatical Bill of Fare” which included two courses followed by dessert and then liquor. 
• Several authors. [Cookery Book]. 18th century. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; f MS.1968.004: This collection of cookery recipes is written in several hands, and many of the recipes are attributed to their creators. It is unclear if the recipes were gathered into a volume by the original collector or compiled by a modern collector. There are recipes for plum cake, mead, cheesecake, stewed pigeons, pickled oysters, potato pudding, bread pudding, and more. 
• Sudell, Joanna, Francis Thornburg, and Katherine Sudell Thornburg. [Cookery Book]. 1688–1751. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.1950.023: The manuscript belonged to Joanna Sudell, likely the wife of Thomas Sudell of Wanlass Park and West Witton, Yorkshire. The cookery book was likely passed down to her daughter, Katherine, who married Francis Thornburg in 1734. There are original medical cures and cookery recipes, and some of the recipes are attributed to other creators. There are recipes for fistula powder, pigeon fricassee, cabbage cream, oatmeal cakes, abortion treatment, hair growth treatment, lemonade, lip salve, orange marmalade, buttered oysters, minced pie, pancakes, perfumes, stewed turnips, brambleberry wine, and more. 
• Unknown. [Cookery Book]. ca. 1780. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; f MS.1990.001: The compiler of the manuscript is unknown, but the sources of many recipes are given, like Lady Essex Roberts, Lady Lucy Booth, and Dr. Ratt. There are recipes for citron water, pickled green melons, quince cake, orange cream, pickled goose, pickled bacon, strong beer, and more.

• Farrow, Mary. [Mary Farrow’s Receipt Book]. 1790–1878. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; MS.2019.007: This is a collection of recipes compiled by Mary Farrow of Loughborough, Leicestershire and Ingham, Lincolnshire in England. Other recipes were written by Farrow’s mother. There are recipes for lemon cheesecake, wedding cake, gingerbread, plum pudding, and more.

• Cameron, Sheila MacNiven and Ward Ritchie. The Highlander’s Cookbook: Recipes from Scotland. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1966. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Ritchie 0200: The recipes cover soups, fish, meat, vegetables, baps, bannocks, bread, desserts, puddings, pies, cold sweets, cakes, cookies, and more. 
• Edwords, Clarence E. Bohemian San Francisco, Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes; the Elegant Art of Dining. San Francisco: P. Elder and Company, 1914. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Ritchie Lib. 0202: A fine press book about the history of San Franciscan cuisine. It includes topics like French restaurants, Mexican cuisine, German cuisine, Japanese cuisine, the Hotel St. Francis, Little Italy, clams, abalones, tipping culture, and more. 
• Grabhorn, Robert. A Commonplace Book of Cookery: A Collection of Proverbs, Anecdotes, Opinions, and Obscure Facts on Food, Drink, Cooks, Cooking, Dining, Diners & Dieters, Dating from Ancient Times to the Present. San Francisco: Arion Press, 1975. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Hoyem 018: California printer, Robert Grabhorn (1900–1973), compiled quotes about food and drink from throughout history. Some themes include gender and cooking; food and emotion; food and ethics; drunkenness; breakfast; snacks; and appetites. Quotes are by Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), Molière (1622–1673), Aesop, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), and Napoleon (1769–1821), and more. 
• Hernandez, Socorro, and Diane Martin. The Art of Making and Serving Tamales. Pasadena: Weather Bird Press, 1998. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Weather Bird 042: This short book describes the history of tamales in Latin America; fillings for tamales; mole sauce; hojas; masa; steaming tamales; and the procedure for assembling tamales. 
• Kettilby, Mary. A Collection of Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery: For the Use of All Good Wives, Tender Mothers, and Careful Nurses. Philadelphia: Printed for Henry Morris and sold by City Wide Press, 1958. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Ritchie Lib. 0129: This fine press book was originally published in 1714. It presents over 300 recipes, including broiled pigeons, hare stew, lobster loaves, pickled mackerel, cheesecake, apricot preserves, gingerbread, quince wine, ointments, and more.
• Quayles, Bunston. Hearty Fare: A Gentlemen’s Cookery Book. Pasadena: Weather Bird Press, 1990. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Ritchie Lib. 0528: A fine press book, Hearty Fare is a small book of nostalgic, comfort food recipes for bechamel sauce, salads, soups, chicken, beef, Mexican cuisine, vegetables, chili, pasta, and more. Bunston Quayles is the nom de plume of Vance Gerry (1929–2005), a well-known storyboard artist. 

• Book Club of California, Randall Tarpey-Schwed, Christopher Carroll, and Peter Rutledge Koch. Plate by Plate: California Recipes from the Gold Rush through “California Cuisine.” San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 2014. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Book Club of Calif. 060: An illustrated fine press book about California cuisine, including topics like the Gold Rush, Mexican influences, Chinese immigration, celebrity chefs, health foods, fad diets, Hollywood, suburbia, spirituality, and more.

To find manuscripts, printed books, and fine press books, go to UC Library Search. Click on “Advanced Search,” select the “Subject” field, and type either “Cooking,” “Recipes,” “Cooking – England – Early works to 1800,” or “Cuisine.” To find works by specific authors, select the “Author” field and type “Quayles, Bunston,” for example. You can also do a keyword search either in the simple search or in the “Any field” field of the “Advanced Search.” Once you have search results, you can limit to the Clark Library by selecting it from the “UCLA Locations” facet.