A family book of recipes ~1900s-1970s

A professional acquaintance, on clearing her house a few years ago, gave me a book of recipes. It had been compiled by women who meant a great deal to her, a pair of sisters and their mother, teachers and school mistresses who moved from Sussex to Oxfordshire in the first half of the 20th Century.

It was my friend’s plain instruction to ‘Keep this book, or burn it.’ The volume isn’t large, but I felt its weight as it came into my hands.

The collection is entirely hand written, though in later pages. numerous clippings and leaflets have been stuffed, as well as short items of personal correspondence. The earliest dated recipe is from 1907, though that entry is well into the book. The earlier recipes likely come from earlier that year or even from previous years.

This was an interesting time in British food history – perhaps what is most striking is how little the recipes change, despite covering both the First and Second World Wars, and their accompanying rationing and other limitations. These women were not wealthy, and their ingredients are both modest and repetitive, but dream of a touch of elegance.

There will be a section of this website devoted to photographing and transcribing these recipes, trying them myself for further notes.

If anyone comes across other interesting sources for the history of some of these recipes – and there are some great names in the collection, please leave your comments below. Thank you.