Washington Women's Cook Book.
[Cookbooks]. Jennings, Linda Deziah (compiler). Washington Women’s Cook Book. Seattle, Washington: The Washington Equal Suffrage Association / Trade Register Print, 1909.
8vo, 256 pp.; (pp.1-212, text, pp. 213-247, blank leaves for “Additional Recipes,” pp. 248-256, index); fresh interior; smooth off-white cloth; decorated in orange at the front panel with two pennants, one reading “Votes for Women” and the other “Good Things to Eat,” a banner below prints the title in bold lettering; binding considerably rubbed, especially at rear cover, with the head and foot of spine somewhat exposed; the whole tight, firm and sound; very good.
First edition. Later printing (first printing, 1908). The epigram which heads the title page declares, “Give us a vote and we will cook / The better for a wide outlook.” The book dedicates itself to:
...the first woman who realized that half of the human race were not getting a square deal, and who had the courage to voice a protest; and also to the long line of women from that day unto this, who saw clearly, thought strongly, and braved misrepresentation, ridicule, calumny and social ostracism, to bring about that millennial day when humanity shall know the blessedness of dwelling together as equals.
The book is organized into recipes for soups, meats, meat and fish sauce, entrees, salads, vegetables, etc. with a suffrage-friendly quotation punctuating the sections. These range from Ralph Waldo Emerson (“It is cheap wit that finds it so amusing that women should vote”) to Abraham Lincoln, Frances Willard and Theodore Roosevelt. The recipes are often homely — welsh rarebit, bubble and squeak, baked asparagus (boil asparagus, place in a casserole, cover with cream, add salt and pepper and one pound grated cheese), but there are also offerings such as “Sailors Recipes,” “Food for the Sick,” “Mountaineers' Chapter” and a “Vegetarian Department.”
The book also prints the officers of the “State Executive Board” which lists members responsible for “Letter Writers,” “Legislation,” “Labor Unions,” “House-to-House Canvass” and “Superintendent of Parlor Meetings” — in and of itself an interesting reflection on the organization and campaign tactics of this state unit. The individual contributors are often acknowledged, recording grass-roots level participation in the suffrage movement. The final section of the book devotes itself to a concise account of the “Progress of Woman Suffrage” with a piece by Adella M. Parker on “How Washington Women Lost the Ballot,” retelling how court decisions overturned two acts by the territorial legislature granting women the vote. Washington women achieved suffrage the following year when a constitutional amendment was adopted.
(#4502)
Print Inquire