OP: Presidential Cook Book
The Saalfield Publishing Company, 1903. Hardcover. Good.
The Presidential Cook Book (1901) is an abridged adaptation of The White House Cook Book (1887), written by Fanny Lemira Gillette and Hugo Ziemann, steward of the White House. At just over 400-page and a smaller trimsize, the Presidential book was presented as the more economical alternative to the beefy, 600-page White House book.
This more comfortably-sized volume retains “all the most important recipes” of the original. By our eye, most of the edits appear in the removal of sections on seasonal cooking, menus, and some household tips. The coverage on food and cooking appears largely intact, a fantastic look at early 20th century trends.
Our copy is the 1903 edition with Edith Carow Roosevelt on the frontispiece. Much like early copies of The White House Cook Book, the paper stock is high acid, which means it is toning and likely to brittle over time, but still malleable for now. The lime green case is heavily soiled and darkening, primarily about the edges. The end papers also bear splattering, but the interior is otherwise clean and unmarked.
