The house servant's directory; or, A monitor for private families: comprising hints on the arrangement and performance of servants' work ... and upwards of 100 various and useful receipts, chiefly compiled for the use of house servants; and identically
The house servant's directory; or, A monitor for private families: comprising hints on the arrangement and performance of servants' work ... and upwards of 100 various and useful receipts, chiefly compiled for the use of house servants; and identically...
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Seller's Description:
Book. Octavo, lxii, 167 pages. In Very Good condition with a Very Good dust jacket. Dust jacket protected with a mylar covering. Spine deep mustard with off-white lettering. Exterior shows extremely mild wear including faint age toning. Boards show extremely minimal wear and slight tilt to the spine. Text block has minimal age toning to the edges. Illustrated. First edition, first printing. NOTE: Shelved in Netdesk Column N, ND-N. 1387718. FP New Rockville Stock.
Publisher:
Boston: Munroe and Francis; New York: C.S. Francis
Published:
1827
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
16000136552
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Seller's Description:
Good. [First edition of the first commercially published book (and cookbook) written by an African American in the United States. ] Housed in a specially made clamshell box. Bound in early 20th century black cloth. Good binding and cover. (i)-xiv, (1)-180pp. 8 pages (155-162 p. ) supplied in facsimile (parts of "A Word to Head of Families, " and "How to Make a fire of Lehigh Coal"). Notes on the front paste down state that this copy was owned by George Putnam, acquired in Portland Maine. Refs: Lowenstein 107; American Imprints 30468; Blockson 9537 (See note). Robert Roberts (1780-1860) was born in South Carolina. It is unknown if he was born into freedom or slavery. He worked as head butler for Christopher Gore, Governor and Senator from Massachusetts. Later in life, he became known in Boston as an abolitionist and advocate for equality of education. He contributed to William Lloyd Garrison's paper, The Liberator. In this guide for servants, Roberts provides 105 home recipes. Roberts takes a measured tone and states that "'The labourer is worthy of his hire, ' and should be treated in health or in sickness with pity and feeling. If it is necessary to place servants under strict surveillance, let them at least be treated as fellow beings and candidates for a future world."-154 p. Some of the recipes include one for "a most delicious lemonade", "how to refine cider", make "a cheap and wholesome beer", "to recover a person from intoxication", "To make the best ginger beer", etc. A rare and interesting view into the world of the early American domestic. The recipes included in this book constitute the first published cookbook by an African American in the United States.
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Seller's Description:
A Fine example of this scarce title. Duodecimo (4-1/4" x 6-3/4") bound in contemporary calf, recently and neatly rebacked; 180 pages. A rare example of the FIRST COMMERCIALLY PUBLISHED BOOK WRITTEN BY AN AFRICAN AMERICAN IN THE UNITED STATES and THE FIRST COOKBOOK WRITTEN BY AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN. A guide for house servants to help them to understand the rules of keeping a prominent white household, it includes recipes and advice to black servants on how to properly clean plates, what to wear, what time to arise for work, how to deal with drunk people, how to restore furniture, and how to take care of themselves. More household-management manual than cookbook, Roberts gives suggestions for employers on how to manage domestic help (very unusual for the time), but he was more interested in teaching young black men how to succeed in their work and ensure their advancement. Roberts begins the book: "In order to get through your work in proper time, you should make it your chief study to rise early in the morning; for an hour before the family rises is worth more to you than two after they are up." The author was a butler at the country estate of U.S. senator and governor of Massachusetts, Christopher Gore, a friend of Daniel Webster's. The First Edition was published the year before, 1827. This edition seems to be just as scarce. BLOCKSON COLLECTION, 9537 (1969 reprint); LONGONE CATALOGUE, page 2: "Although only two other editions of Roberts's book are recorded, some historians think that this work was seminal in producing men of singular ability as caterers, and managers--rather than servants--of large households"; Lowenstein, AMERICAN COOKERY BOOKS, 107; Weinstein, AGAINST THE TIDE 57: "Roberts also published the only substantial work by an abolitionist, black or white, to contain neither hint nor trace of race"; not in WORK.
