I’m always flipping through old thrift store books for images. Sometimes our local library has wonderful book sales and there are some pretty cool oldies. I do my best to research the copyright expiration in hopes of confirming the work as public domain so that I can share the images for reproduction. Recently I came across this very grungy old cookbook found at the recycle area at the dump for a quarter. The White House Cookbook of 1887 by Mrs. Fanny Lemira Gillette.
Barely clinging to its spine, it is tucked full of coupons, clippings, and handwritten recipes. Digging further, I found pressed flowers and clover. Clearly this was someone’s treasured homemaking sourcebook as well as their scrapbook. I have to keep it tied together with twine. In the front of the book are pages of information on cuts of meats with fabulous illustrations. If you’re a vegetarian, I’m sorry, I’m sure you won’t find this charming in the least. But I couldn’t help but think how wonderful these images would look on a bib apron.
These would also be great printed to printable fabric sheets and appliquéd to a pillow for your kitchen seating area, or onto T-shirt transfer sheets and ironed on to muslin for making decorative dish towels. You can get a little crazy and embroider the image once you’ve transferred it. Or, print to paper and trim out to Mod Podge to canvases for kitchen decor, and so on.Click to enlarge and save the scans of these book pages.
The pages show through a bit from the other sides (which I don’t mind much at all,) and aside from hours of Photoshop work, that’s how they’ll remain for my versions, but I am also including a set of images that have been outlined in Adobe Illustrator as vector graphics that you can manipulate in your own software. Click on that image for a PDF download file.
There’s much more than history and recipes in this book, so click HERE for more information on The White House Cookbook, or HERE to download your own PDF version of the entire book!
The pages show through a bit from the other sides (which I don’t mind much at all,) and aside from hours of Photoshop work, that’s how they’ll remain for my versions, but I am also including a set of images that have been outlined in Adobe Illustrator as vector graphics that you can manipulate in your own software. Click on that image for a PDF download file.There’s much more than history and recipes in this book, so click HERE for more information on The White House Cookbook, or HERE to download your own PDF version of the entire book!
32 comments:
what a lovely book! and clearly once someones treasured possesion. What a brilliant find!
Wow! What a great find. Thanks for all the graphics and the link for the book. Sally
THAT is such a find! I have over 100 cookbooks and I'm going to download the whole thing to add to my collection. I love the way they chop of the animal in a grid. Reminds me what I did to my husbands head to show everyone how to cut hair. Did you see that? He didn't look very happy in the pic...He kept saying "I don't want to pose for the blog." LOL
If you missed it and want to laugh here is the link:
http://theredheadriter.blogspot.com/2009/06/dont-cut-your-hair.html
I guess I divided his head like a cow...NOW I'M REALLY LAUGHING! I can't wait to show him the new cookbook so he can compare his head with the cow!
Happy Wednesday!
What a wonderful book and great illustrations.
How do you manage to find out if a book/ item is in the public domain for sure?
Happy crafting with your new 'old' find! I'm off to check out some thrift stores....doubt I'll find anything as interesting, with all those extra treasures inside!
I'M SORRY! I gave you the wrong link...the other one was me threatening to cut all my hair off...this is my husband...new name (cow head)...LOL
http://theredheadriter.blogspot.com/2009/06/me-or-other-woman.html
I was just thinking those would make really cool kitchen pillows. ;) That is a very cool treasure you found!
Creative Crafter UK, Thank you for asking that question. I don't know anything about the laws in the UK, but I added a link to information about copyright and public domain material in the first paragraph of my post. Click on the words: "research the copyright".
The shot of the book with coupons and pressed flower is my fave! BFN. Lesley
What a wonderful treasure you unearthed. Thanks for the link to the book!!
Cathe, I appreciate the graphics from the White House Cookbook, even though they aren't very appetizing. Thanks for sharing!
Mitzi Curi
What a find! I have a 1923 edition of this cookbook. What makes mine so special are the handwritten recipes on the flyleaf...written by my grandmother! The illustrations in this old book are priceless!
What a neat book!
sandy toe
I love these graphics. I visit your blog everyday for inspiration. Thank you so much! Hugs, Kathleen
What a good find! Doesn't it give you a slight rush to find a treasure like that? Awesome!
Great find! I think that Clyde Common in Portland, OR (adjoined to the Ace Hotel) used this book to wallpaper the wall by the bathroom. I recall the meat slicing images. Thank you again for posting about my work! It was nice to meet you!
We actually have a modern day version of this very cookbook. I had to laugh at the images. I don't know exactly why, but I had to!
Awesome! What a fantastic find x
Thanks for this! I love reading your blog. I keep a folder of all your awesome ideas to try out.
oh my goodness how AWESOME are you for sharing!!! :) Thank you so very much!! i can hardly wait to download this tonight!!!! This is truly INCREDIBLE!! :) Have a FANTABULOUS day!! :D
What fun! Love pig and the deer!
Cathe, another wonderful post with GREAT ideas and lovely graphics -- thanks, as always for being so generous with your work!
Have you discovered Agence Eureka? I believe this artwork is all in the public domain (their copyright laws are different) and someone has scanned a veritable treasure trove of artwork to share -- it's LOVELY!
Here it is:
http://bibigreycat.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
Molly
I'm a vegetarian and I LOVE this! Thank you so much for making the images available. I really want to use that cow for an embroidery for my boyfriend, who is also a vegetarian. It'd be deliciously ironic in one way, and very appropriate in another. I mean, if anything, those kind of illustrations drive home the point that meat DOES come from living, whole animals --- very specic parts of them! :)
Cathe Cathe Cathe! That is great. The illustrations are even greater. :D
My family owns a reprint of this cookbook and reading your post reminded me about it. I started looking through it and decided we've been missing out on some really cool stuff by just letting it sit on the shelf. I love how it doesn't just have recipes but also home remedies to sickness, table etiquette, and old pictures. Thank you for your awesome blog!
Love these! I am going to get these put on shirts for my kids! thanks
Thank you. It's a very informative link...and something I often wondered.
I'm thinking of having a pig roast in the fall. Wouldn't the pig be fun blown up and set on the table? (it looks better in my head than it sounds written on this page!)
I'm thinking those would make great embroidered tea towels! LOL
A friend of mine has been searching for poster sized images of 'cuts of meat' for his kitchen. These might just do the trick. Thank you!
I simply MUST embroider these!!
woundering about those pressed flowers, Hmmmm ? Just got home from yard sale, after patting myself on the back for my sharp eye and how I talked myself into spending 50 cents on another old cookbook. WOW.. the cover is worn only becaue my neighbor remembers her grandmother using it when she was a little girl. After looking through for a bit, out slides a couple dried,pressed flowers. tried to give it back, thinking how I hold on to family hand-me-downs, she tells me keep it,but cook her something yummy.. DID they come out with those flowers?
makes me wonder..hard to believe after all these years ..
I was given this same cook book by a friend of mine who knows I love old books. It belonged to his Grandma & has some of her hand written comments in it. Yes, she actually made some of the recipes.(she thought the cream pie on page 330 was 'delicious') But thanks to this old book & my curiosity I did a google search for it & that's how I found your blog. Ever since finding your blog, I have been on it as much as I can. I love, love, love it. We are very much alike. Thanx for the awesome blog. Smiles~*** Jeffrey
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