I inherited a lovely, old cookbook from my grandmother. She got it from her mother long ago. On the first page, my great-grandma Carlson wrote her name and the date 1901. The original copyright is 1894. It must have been a treasured resource for both of them. The pages are worn with use.
I know that this little book wasn’t always well cared for. My grandma had packed her family and moved two-dozen times in her life, but it seemed this book was loved enough to make it into the moving box and not sold in a yard sale.
The leather cover is cracked and faded; the pages are yellowed and frayed. The binding is sadly beyond repair. Despite its condition, I oh so gently began looking through the marvelous book, wondering if there is a modernized version to be had, one that I could enjoy without it falling apart in my hands.
Since this title is now in the public domain, I found several choices, but the republished versions are simply scanned pages of an original. If you’ve ever gotten such a reproduced copy of a historical print, you know that the text is sometimes a mess to decipher.
But, hey, I told myself, you are an independent publisher, Jillian. You can edit and republish this book! So, I decided, then and there, that this will be my winter project.
I have been busy scanning the original into a workable WORD copy. Repairing the text is daunting. It is no wonder no one has modernized this century-old book!
Once the recipes are workable on the computer, then comes big decisions: How much of the outdated text should I modernize to be user-friendly in the kitchen, and how much of the charming instructions should I keep? Would you know what a gill of something is, or be comfortable collecting a faggot of herbs? Do you have blades of mace in your pantry?
Some of the recipes are vague, making assumptions of the reader. You should already know how to remove the brains from a veal’s head, for example. Still, such recipes are why this cookbook is important to share.
I called this my winter project, but I imagine it will take most of 2023 to publish a copy you might want in your kitchen. Before this happens, I will need a few Beta (or Alpha) Readers to help me decide on the most useful print size and recipe order. I’m collecting contacts for later this summer, so drop me a message on Facebook or Goodreads if interested. Until then, enjoy and happy cooking! ~ Jillian
