The ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' (1896) by

Fannie Farmer Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 – 16 January 1915) was an American culinary expert whose ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' became a widely used culinary text. Education Fannie Farmer was born on 23 March 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, ...

is a 19th-century general reference

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

which is still available both in reprint and in updated form. It was particularly notable for a more rigorous approach to recipe writing than had been common up to that point. In the preface Farmer states: ::It is my wish that it may not only be looked upon as a compilation of tried and tested recipes, but that it may awaken an interest through its condensed scientific knowledge which will lead to deeper thought and broader study of what to eat. Farmer's 1896 compilation became the best-selling cookbook of the era. In 2007, that period of American culinary history was recreated in an elaborate dinner using the Victorian cooking methods outlined in this book. The extensive preparations and the ultimate results were described in a book entitled ''Fannie's Last Supper'' by

Christopher Kimball Christopher Kimball is an American editor, publisher, and radio and TV personality. He is notable as one of the founders of ''America's Test Kitchen'' and '' Cook's Country'' and as the creator of '' Christopher Kimball's Milk Street''. Early ...

, and an American public television program of the same name was broadcast in 2010.

Publication history

When

Little, Brown & Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

was preparing the first edition of Fannie Farmer's cookbook, they were not confident it would sell well. As such, the first edition, released in 1896, had a limited run of only 3,000 copies.Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters,'' p. 94. It proved an immediate success. Facsimiles of the original book are still in print. Heavily revised successor books, later retitled ''The Fannie Farmer Cookbook'', have also been published, the most recent being the thirteenth edition by author Marion Cunningham, originally issued in 1990 and then reissued in 1996 for the 100th anniversary of the original book. The twelfth and thirteenth editions were published by

Knopf Publishing Group Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

. * 1st edition, 1896. 567 pp. * 2nd edition, 1906. 648 pp. * First Revised edition, 1912. 648 pp. * 3rd edition, 1918. 656 pp. * 4th edition, 1923. 808 pp. * 5th edition, 1930. 831 pp. * 6th edition, 1936. 838 pp. * 7th edition, 1941. 824 pp. * 8th edition, 1946. 879 pp. (''Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book'') * 9th edition, 1951. 878 pp. (''The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cookbook'' on cover) * 10th edition, 1959. 596 pp. (''The All New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cookbook'') * 11th edition, 1965. 624 pp. (first to be titled ''The Fannie Farmer Cookbook'') * 12th edition, 1979. 811 pp. ("Revised by Marion Cunningham with Jeri Laber") * 13th edition, 1990. 874 pp. ("By Marion Cunningham")

Notes

References

* Kimball, Christopher. (2010). ''Fannie's Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer's 1896 Cookbook.'' New York : Hyperion.
OCLC 526057621
* Nelson, Randy F. (1981). ''The Almanac of American Letters.'' Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann. ;
OCLC 7167910

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, The American cookbooks 1896 non-fiction books Massachusetts cuisine History of American cuisine