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165A
ONE OF THE RAREST AMERICAN COOKBOOKS
(FOOD and DRINK.) Fisher, Abby C. What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Preserves, etc. 8vo, original gilt lettered cloth, very slightly rubbed and faded; Inscribed and Signed. San Francisco, 1881
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Notes: first edition of the first cookbook authored by an african-american. inscribed on the front free endpaper, "Mr. Stout from Mr & Mrs A.C. Fisher." Mrs. Fisher was, by her own admission, unable to read or write. She described her husband as being "without the advantages of an education." The crude formation of the inscription suggests that one of the Fishers may have undertaken writing the presentation, and if not, the inscription most likely was executed by one of the sponsors of the book.
Abby Fisher was born in 1832, according the the San Francisco census records for 1880, which describes her as a mulatto cook. Fisher was born in South Carolina of a black mother and a French gentleman (probably white). She married in South Carolina and then moved with her family to California. In San Francisco, the Fisher's operated a pickle manufactory. The slightly defective Crahan copy of this title sold in 1985 for $2400. Bitting, page 158.
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