In an earlier post I introduced nineteenth century Recipe Holders. Here is a wonderful example of a handmade Holder acquired from an estate in Maine. By examining the contents, the original owner started this little beauty in England. Apparently the household immigrated to Ontario, Canada and ended their journey somewhere in 
Maine.
The 5.5x7-inch covers are closely woven brown linen (possibly hand-loomed) over cardboard. The fabric might have been red or blue and have faded to this common brown color, caused by oxidation. On the exterior is a sampler of embroidery stitches in green wool. Originally there was a green ribbon to tie the Holder closed. Notice the spine is ample to enfold many recipes through the years.
Inside, the folder boards are inset with black silk. there are five labeled envelopes sewn to the front board which organize the recipes by categories: Puddings, Candies, Cakes, Icings and Miscellaneous. Within these little envelopes are small pieces of paper with recipes written in a youthful hand, possibly a teen project of sorts.
There are recipes for Almond Icing, Brown Betties, Rich Fruit-Cake and Vanilla Sauce. 
When sorting through the dozens of other recipes, you can tell they were assembled by different generations. There are twenty some recipes written with fountain pen ink on stationery folded in half, a common practice in the 19th century. Some examples are Bran Gems, Winter Salad, Apple Chutney, Lemon Pie, Spanish Cream, Chelsea Buns and Tomato Soup.
Then there are dozens of handwritten recipes on small pieces of paper, some folded, many written in lead pencil. Examples include Tomato Peach & Pear Chutney, Chocolate Cake, Buckwheat Coffee Cake, Jelly Gems, Rum Cake, Spiced Jelly, Alda's Hot Cross Buns and Apple Pickle.
We next see typed recipes, when the machines became popular in the late teens and twenties. Then, index cards and onto recipes written in ball point pen. The recipes start sounding more contemporary too with the likes of Queen Elizabeth Cake, Jell-o Pudding Cookies, Dropped Hermits and Gum Drop Cake.
It's a terrific pastime being a cook book "detective" or a biographer of previously owned cookery books.
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