"PILGRIM'S PROGRESS IS A GOOD BOOK, AND SO, I AM TOLD IS DEUTERONOMY, BUT NEITHER IS TO BE COMPARED WITH THIS EPIC OF GASTRONOMY"

(NASH, Ogden) COLQUITT, Harriet Ross. The Savannah Cook Book. A Collection of Old Fashioned Receipts from Colonial Kitchens. (New York: J.J. Little and Ives, 1933). Octavo, spiral-bound as issued, original pictorial paper wrappers. $300.

First spiral-bound edition of this classic Southern cookbook, with an introductory poem by humorist Ogden Nash.

While Harriett Ross Colquitt displays the prejudice of many mid-century white cookbook authors who both "praised and ridiculed African Americans, these authors inadvertently introduced us to black cooks who understood the nuances of regional cooking" (Hughes, ed. Best Food Writing 2016). That perspective is found in recipes such as that for Ogeechee Lime Preserves, which prizes a "local variety of the Spanish lime," as well as a recipe for Benne Candy, which notes: "The slaves brought it to this country from Africa… they sprinkle it on their doorsteps to bring them luck and ward of ha'nts!" Savannah Cook Book is thus often cited for its glimpses into African American culinary history, including "valuable documents of regional cooking" (Kraig, Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America I:490). Preceded by the same year's cloth first edition. See Cagle & Stafford 173. Owner signature. Marginalia noting "Easter 1965" to one recipe (68-9).

Interior fresh with occasional faint paper clip traces; mild soiling to wrappers. A near-fine copy.