[Rarebooks] FS: THE FIRST COOKBOOK WRITTEN BY AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN, 1827

[Charles Agvent]

One of a number of African-American pieces in our new catalog: Summer 
Miscellany with 85 select items in a variety of fields. See the catalog 
here: *http://www.charlesagvent.com/agvent/images/pdfs/Summer2017.pdf*

ROBERTS, Robert. THE HOUSE SERVANT'S DIRECTORY, OR A MONITOR FOR PRIVATE 
FAMILIES: COMPRISING HINTS ON THE ARRANGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF 
SERVANTS' WORK, WITH GENERAL RULES FOR SETTING OUT TABLES AND SIDEBOARDS 
IN FIRST ORDER; THE ART OF WAITING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES; AND LIKEWISE HOW 
TO CONDUCT LARGE AND SMALL PARTIES WITH ORDER; WITH GENERAL DIRECTIONS 
FOR PLACING ON TABLE ALL KINDS OF JOINTS, FISH, FOWL, &C. WITH FULL 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLEANING PLATE, BRASS, STEEL, GLASS, MAHOGANY; AND 
LIKEWISE ALL KINDS OF PATENT AND COMMON LAMPS: OBSERVATIONS ON SERVANTS' 
BEHAVIOUR TO THEIR EMPLOYERS; AND UPWARDS OF 100 VARIOUS AND USEFUL 
RECEIPTS, CHIEFLY COMPILED FOR THE USE OF HOUSE SERVANTS; AND 
IDENTICALLY MADE TO SUIT THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF FAMILIES IN THE 
UNITED STATES WITH FRIENDLY ADVICE TO COOKS AND HEADS OF FAMILIES; AND 
COMPLETE DIRECTIONS HOW TO BURN LEHIGH COAL. Boston & New York: Munroe 
and Francis; Charles S. Francis, 1827. First Edition. Duodecimo (4-3/4" 
x 7-1/2") bound in contemporary, possibly for the publisher, 
linen-backed marbled boards with an intact printed paper label spine; 
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. Owner name of Katherine Laurence dated 27 March 1827 
on the front endpaper. Two leaves (pages 73-76) neatly detached and laid 
in; contents complete and very clean with occasional toning. Some 
fraying along the spine edge. An excellent example of a very scarce and 
important title.

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. (#018453)        $45,000.00

https://www.charlesagvent.com/shop/agvent/018453.html

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