The Home Messenger Book of Tested Receipts, respectfully dedicated to the friends and patrons of the Detroit Home of the Friendless

Detroit: E.B. Smith, 1873. Octavo ( x cm.), [6], 5-137 pages. Illustrated with frontispiece engraving of the home. FIRST EDITION of Detroit’s first cookbook. A second edition was published in 1878. In the early days of the Civil War, Rev. George Duffield, Minister of the First Presbyterian Church, located at the corner of State and Farm Streets in Detroit, convened a meeting of the women of the church. He called on them to help the “worthy and indigent persons in this City constantly suffering for the necessaries of life.” In 1862, the First Presbyterian women, led by Rev. Duffield’s daughter, Isabella Duffield Stewart, brought together a group of women from more than a dozen Detroit churches (see below) for the purpose of helping the less fortunate in the city. They met in what they called the “Home of the Friendless” which they had recently purchased and which became the name of the agency. Isabella Duffield Stewart was its founder and president until her death in 1888; the agency is still in existence today as the Children’s Aid Society. Recipes include Canadian red relish, “mother’s rich cup cake,” railroad cake, cole slaw, German salad dressing, corn pone, etc. Very little meat included, as it would have been expensive. Very light soiling internally; all edges red. In publisher's textured and blind-ruled light brown cloth; gilt-lettering to spine and front panel. Very near fine. Scarce. [OCLC locates thirteen copies; Brown 1714; Cook 131; not in Bitting or Cagle].