The Common-Sense Household Cookery Book

The NSW Public School Cookery Teachers' Association. The Common-Sense Household Cookery Book. (3rd Imp) Angus & Robertson: Sydney, [ca.1914] green cloth, black lettered bds [2],[28],13-192,[2]pp. Bds faintly soiled; eps lightly offset toned;

THE N.S.W. PUBLIC SCHOOL COOKERY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION (compiled)

The Common-Sense Household Cookery Book

Sydney: Angus & Robertson Limited, [ca.1914]. Third impression, incorporating 5 corrections to errata into the text.  First published April 1914.  Printed by W C Penfold & Co Ltd, Sydney.

Octavo (180x120mm) sewn and stapled  green, black lettered, printed cloth boards, flush cut pages [2 advertisements with illustration],[28, title-page, contents, index, kitchen requisites, dictionary of terms used in cookery, table of measures, cuts of meat, with advertisements with illustration],13-192, [2 advertisements with illustration] pp.  Near Fine.  A few small blemishes to the bright otherwise clean boards; faint offset toning to endpapers; a few very small signs of kitchen use, but generally bright and clean.

 A publication date of between late 1914 and early 1915 can be inferred from the advertisements for Taylor Bros noting their gold medals from the 1914 Sydney Royal Easter Show and the next impression.

 The Common-Sense Household Cookery Book was commissioned by the NSW Department of Public Instruction for use in schools and on publication met with strong sales and favourable reviews: "Commonsense and a good cookery book are the only two essentials for the making of a good cook, we are told. As good cookery books are by no means uncommon, it must be the commonsense that is rare, for good cooks are not to be had for the making. Now, we have, in one small green volume, the two essentials brought together inseparably"¹

The Common-Sense Household Cookery Book was used for secondary school home economics education in New South Wales for most of the twentieth century.  Over the decades later editions were adapted to reflect culinary trends and new recipes.  Notable for its practical and simple recipes and its complete avoidance of indigenous ingredients such as Kangaroo etc reflecting a significant change in Australian culture and cuisine around the decades of Federation and World War I.

Extremely scarce in this edition and condition. An excellent early copy.

§ OCLC records 7 holdings, all in Australia
§ Hoyle 962;

¹  Sydney Morning Herald April 1914