OP: White House Cook Book

L. P. Miller & Co., 1891. Hardcover. Good.

First published in 1887, The White House Cook Book’s title was not much more than a marketing scheme by author Fanny Lemira Gillette (1828–1926) to give her general housekeeping manual an air of sophistication—the title and illustrated inserts of first ladies were the extent of the book’s affiliation with the White House. But it was a ploy that worked, and not only did the book become a hit, later editions eventually did enlist the help of former White House steward Hugo Ziemann, lending some legitimacy to the packaging.

While this edition does include a brief section on state dinners at the White House, Gillette’s book was meant to be a comprehensive resource for the average housekeeper at the time and was a common wedding gift. Four hundred or so pages of recipes are followed by suggested menus, food for the sick, and household tips for everything from curing lockjaw to removing oil stains from silk.

Each edition was updated with a new frontispiece featuring the current first lady, and we offer here an 1891 copy with Caroline “Carrie” Scott Harrison. Our copy is in better condition than we’d usually expect from this book. All the early volumes were printed on high acid paper, which becomes brittle over time, and the heavy use one might expect for a comprehensive, hulking 600-page book means that the enameled cloth boards are often found chipping and hanging on by a thread. We’re pleased to say ours remains intact and soundly bound, the pages toning but not yet brittle.