Cook Book of the Young Ladies Cooking Club, Monroe, Mich

[Monroe, Michigan]: Monroe Democrat Print, 1884. Octavo (23.75 x 15.25 cm.), 35, [i] pages. Title from cover. Index. FIRST & ONLY EDITION. A community cookbook with one hundred eighty recipes, the majority of them attributed. Arranged as a series of "bills of fare" for meals, headed Breakfast, Lunch Party, Coffee, High Tea, Supper (and one Hallow e'en Party). Some repetitions occur therefore (both Fig Cake and Charlotte Russe, for instance, are deemed compatible with several menu lists). Examples of potential interest: Celery Salad (with mustard dressing), Potato Rolls, Panned Oysters, (Fried) Lobster Risoles, Boiled Hominy, French Oyster Pie, Ice Cream Cocoanut Cake, Pineapple Float, Almond Ice Cream. Monroe is the seat of Monroe County, on the shores of Lake Erie, a stone's throw from Dearborn and Detroit to the north. How the young ladies knew one another is not revealed; what their introductory remarks do make clear is that the impetus for their gatherings was "the desire of having a good time together," and that for publishing a cookbook was to raise money for an excursion (possibly "a trip to Europe"). Categorically not a charitable cause, then – at least not in the conventional sense. Several pages chipped, dog-eared, or stained. Stapled in rose paper wrappers with black titling; spine reinforced at an early date. Still, not unnattractive. Good or better. Rare. [OCLC locates four copies; in neither Cook, Brown, nor Cagle].