1930’s Luscious Luncheons and Tasty Teas - Perpetual Calendar Cookbook
I have many obsessions. I am obsessed with vintage cookbooks and recipe pamphlets, thrifting, British period dramas, Marie Antoinette, Mary Jane shoes, pin-up girls from the 40’s and 50’s, old books, vintage costume jewelry, the infamous Garden of Allah Hotel once on Sunset Blvd., New Orleans, Disney, the Cotswolds, WWII, black and white photography, documentaries on artists, writers and old Hollywood, tacky Japanese table lamps, antique dolls, old metal tins, antique wooden frames, kawaii culture, lip gloss, cat eye glasses, donut shops and bakeries, Michael Stipe, the movies Paper Moon and Midnight in Paris, old houses, Grand Guignol, skeleton keys, toy ovens, anything described as kitsch, Art Deco, Rococo and Mid-Century, ghosts, castles, Germany, The House on the Rock, my husbands dimples, Tretorns, Zelda Fitzgerald…need I say more? I think you get the idea. I’m very curious and weird! I’m obsessed with a lot of things but now, I have to add another obsession to my ever growing list, vintage perpetual calendar cookbooks!
I’ve only recently discovered these gorgeous cookbooks while hunting online for Art Deco recipe booklets. They were written by Ida Bailey Allen, published by Buzza Co. and illustrated by Carrie Dudley. These beauties come in their own little box and are meant to hang on the wall as a calendar would. This rare collection of recipes is presented as a perpetual calendar divided by months. It contains over 365 recipes, one for every day of the year! Ida Bailey Allen, the author of this and more than 50 cookbooks and other books was known as “The Nation’s Homemaker” and “The International Food Authority”. From my research I have found three other cookbook calendars like this one: Dainty Desserts, Delightful Dinners and Satisfying Salads, all written by Ida Bailey Allen. Many I’ve found are without their original boxes. And being over 90 years old, most I’ve seen have been in poor condition. They measure around 8” x 7” and this one has 59 pages. I got lucky and purchased this one and Delightful Dinners in a lot with their original boxes. I also found an old handwritten recipe for “Scotch Short Bread” on an index card tucked between the pages. I’ve a pic below. Now I’m on the hunt for the other two and similar vintage calendar cookbooks. Nanny was right, it’s a sickness. Just take a look at this pretty thing!
The lovely box design is the same as the cookbook calendar cover. It’s very southern belle meets 18th century France! I adore it!
A very glamorous photo of the author Ida Bailey Allen.
The recipe for “Scotch Short Bread” I found tucked between it’s pages. I love surprises!
What are YOU obsessed with? I’d LOVE to know! Tell me in the comments!
