Lea Moses cookbook : manuscript.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Moses, Lea, 1880-1940, author. (writer of a cookbook).

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Cooking, German.

Cooking.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Cookbooks.

Recipes.

Manuscripts, German -- 20th century.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Kestenbaum & Company (New York, New York) (Lot 212), 2024.

Physical Description:

1 volume (256 pages) : paper ; 21 x 17 cm

Production:

Eschweiler, Germany, 20th century.

Other Title:

Cover title: Koch[?] von Frau Lea Moses, hausfrau, Eschweiler 6 Aachen Marienstrasse

Language Note:

In German, with two recipes in English.

Biography/History:

The creator of this cookbook was Lea Moses of Eschweiler, Germany. On the inside of the front cover it states, "Koch[?] von Frau Lea Moses, hausfrau, Eschweiler 6 Aachen Marienstrasse." According to the Netherland's genealogy website, WieWasWie, Lea Moses (née Rath) was born around 1880 to Abraham and Sibilla (née Goldschmidt) Rath in Kempen, Germany. She married Hermann Moses, of Laurensberg, Germany, and they settled in Eschweiler, Germany. According to the seller's website, "In June 1939 the couple fled to Winterswijk, Netherlands." Not much is known about Lea Moses' life during the Holocaust, other than that she died in Winterswijk on March 10th, 1940 of unknown causes. At some point, Hermann Moses was deported to Camp Westerbork and, in 1942, to Auschwitz where he died on January 26, 1943.

Summary:

The Lea Moses Kochbuch consists of approximately 115 handwritten recipes in German and English, dating from the 20th century. Based on the handwriting in this volume, there may be five contributors to the cookbook. This commercial recipe book is divided into thirteen categories: fish, meat dishes, roasts, dips, vegetables, salads, compotes, pastries, pudding, preserves, baked goods, beverages and "miscellaneous." The first two recipes in the book are in the meat dish section for a "grunge" recipe (p. 37). In the salad section, there are two pages laid into the book with around ten recipes including biscuits, tortes, cream puffs, and cakes. There are four vegetable recipes (p. 79 and 94), one compote recipe (p. 113), five pastry recipes (p. 127-130), eighteen pudding recipes (p. 149-159), four preserve recipes (p. 167-168), sixty baked goods recipes (p. 185-207), and five "miscellaneous" recipes (p. 229-230). In addition to these handwritten recipes, there are three laid in recipes in English and German from newspapers for homemade bread, "fisch mal anders," and a raspberry, peach and orange ice cream dish (between pgs. 160-161). These recipes, with one cut from the New York Times, date from the 1960s. Most of the recipes give the main ingredients and include very little cooking or baking instructions, if any at all. Some of the more commonly known recipes in this volume include: cream puffs (laid in material between p. 94 and 95), red apple jelly (p. 113), chocolate pudding (p. 149), Linzertorte (p. 198), and chocolate cake (p. 204). The front cover is a fragment that contains a circle with the title, "Kochrezepte" on one side and the handwritten note, "Koch[?] von Frau Lea Moses, hausfrau, Eschweiler 6 Aachen Marienstrasse" on the inside of the cover. The spine is entirely lacking, with the binding exposed. The back cover is barely attached with tape to a few sturdy pages. On page 256, there is a handwritten note dating from 1932 to 1933, but, because of the difficulty of the handwriting, it is unclear if this is when the book was written. There are 256 pages in this commercially produced recipe book. Pages 1-36, 38-78, 81-93, 95-112, 114-126, 131-148, 160-166, 169-184, 208-228, 231-255 are blank. The paper is very brittle.All references to page numbers in this record reflect the page numbers provided by the cataloger.

Notes:

Title supplied by cataloger.

Cited as:

Lea Moses Cookbook (Ms. Codex 2347). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.