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Preston, Mary Jean, of Flasby Hall, Yorkshire (1793-1852).
A substantial early 19th c. manuscript recipe book from a notable Yorkshire country house. [Manuscript recipe book].
Publisher: Flasby Hall;
Date of Publication: 1823
Stock Code: 14232
Foolscap folio, pp., 81, 7. Original quarter roan over marbled paper-covered boards. Covers scuffed, spine and board edges worn with some loss. A substantial early 19th c. manuscript recipe book from a notable Yorkshire country house, written in a single, legible hand. The author identifies herself as Mary Jean Preston of Flasby Hall on the front paste-down, and dates the volume to 1823, when she was 30 years of age. Mary Jean was married to Cooper Preston, Esq. (1787-1860), who was of the venerable Lancashire Prestons, who had resided at Flasby Hall in West Yorkshire since the seventeenth century. During Mary Jean’s lifetime, Flasby Hall was substantially remodelled in fashionable Italianate style. While Cooper Preston’s commonplace book, now at West Yorkshire County archives, records some of the domestic activity at the Hall, this volume appears to be the only substantial work, written by the lady of the house. Including both culinary and pharmaceutical recipes, all outlined in an extensive manuscript index. Much of the volume is given over to sweets and desserts: apple cakes, mince pies, gingerbread, meringues, biscuit drops, muffins, and wafers. Accompanying them are a cornucopia of puddings: butter, Marlborough, custard, cabinet, orange, apple, and souffle provide a dizzying variety of means to enjoy steamed desserts. English classics feature prominently: the manuscript records recipes for bubble and squeak, stews of veal, fowl, and fish, vegetable soups, and a panoply of gravies. Many of the recipes are highly practical, and give some evidence of the occasional struggles faced by the family: ‘cheap fish sauce’, and an emphasis on the pickling and preserving of ingredients where possible reminds us of the pressures of finance and seasonality on the Prestons. Some of the recipes show that Mary Jean embraced relatively new dishes and cuisines: the now iconic mock-turtle soup, and three different recipes for curry, show an interest in the products of Britain’s expanding empire, and unlike most early English curries, Mary Jean’s recipe resemble the techniques used by modern Western cooks. In the notes and additions to the recipes, we get a sense of Mary Jean’s social world, and her personality. Many of the recipes have named originals such as Mrs Graham’s crackers, Dr. Duncan’s recipe for sore throat, and Mrs Cathcart’s pudding (dated to 1820). A section entitled ‘remarks’ contains the author’s maxims for cooking ‘suet should always be scraped, never chopped’ is heavily underlined. An array of pharmaceutical recipes show that the distinction between food and medicine was rather weak for our author. A variety of ‘gargles’ accompany treatments for rheumatism, consumption, worms, and a variety of other ailments. Recipes for iron gall ink (which may very well be the recipe for the very ink the manuscript is written in), and for dyes, paints, and varnishes are peppered throughout the manuscript. A unique and comprehensive insight into the diet, tastes and remedies of a prominent late Georgian English provincial household.

£2800.00