I listed a cookbook today that really has me wondering at its story. It's a 1943 Wartime Edition of the American Woman's Cookbook, the "Victory Binding" issue. These were published by the Culinary Arts Institute and Ruth Berolzheimer was the editor.
Now, my cookbooks are obviously used. I like to have the book right there on the counter when I'm making a recipe, and you can tell because I'm not a very neat cook. I blame my mother, I remember her Rumford and Watkins cookbooks being lovingly used and battered until the covers needed to be held on with rubber bands.
But this cookbook is darn near pristine. There is some rubbing along the extremities, and a few spots on the covers, and the pages are age-browned. But there is not a mark on this book. Not a spill, not a dog-eared page, not even a name written proudly inside.
It makes me wonder. Was there a tragedy behind this cookbook? Was it purchased in anticipation of a wedding that never happened because of World War II? Did the sadness of that loss make the once-happy owner unable to bear the sight of this lovely book, and was it banished to the depths of a trunk in the attic? Or am I being overly romantic and dramatic, and was the former owner just a very, very neat cook?
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