Quote:
Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
This was a popular book, in the years that it was published, 1832-1845, going through thirty-two editions (source: GoodReads).
The book includes "remedies, advice on parenting, and tips for housekeepers" (GoodReads). Much of the information about those things is outdated, irrelevant, or otherwise unusable. But there are also many recipes, and that's a different matter.
Many of the recipes that I saw were for dishes that I have never heard of before. I wondered if it was because they had simply gone out of style. I'm thinking that many of them would be enjoyed today if cooks would make them.
A fairly large publishing company, Andrew McMeel, has published the book in recent times. It is available at Amazon right now, new, in hardcover and Kindle mobi. I don't know if McMeel republished it because they saw practical value in some of its contents today or for the nostalgic/historical interest (perhaps it was both). At any rate, the fact that it was republished by a publisher of McMeel's calibre is a testimony to its value in the present day.
The following edition is the 27th edition, 1841. It is an "enlarged and corrected" edition. It's the newest edition that I could find. And, it's several years/editions newer than the one published today that you would have to buy.
The American Frugal Housewife.
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A different edition (I think) is free from the Kindle store.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Fruga...dp/B00849CIP4/
And Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13493 (Kindle, ePub)
TWELFTH EDITION. ENLARGED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR. 1832.
Lydia Maria Child was also a abolitionist, women's rights activist, opponent of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, novelist, and journalist and Unitarian