Some 350 years ago, an ancestor of mine opened a new leather bound book and began to write on the blank vellum pages, probably using home-made ink and a goose-feather quill for it was the custom for a young lady of the day to prepare for life away from the family home by copying out her mother’s recipe book, ready to start a new life of her own and to be handed on through her family.
The time was probably around 1675 and now the book rests still in my kitchen, the possession of my daughter. In the 12 generations since, many hands have continued adding to the book. My own grandfather was born in 1918 and recalled his mother using the book when he was a child in the 1920s.
The Peyton-Dashwood Cookbook 