The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

In the mid-1950s, a savory and profitable graphic project came to Alison Mason Kingsbury in the form of the Fannie Farmer cookbook series. After his retirement from the University of Rochester, Dexter Perkins, venerable historian and Fannie Farmer's nephew, came to Ithaca to serve as Cornell University's first John L. Senior Professor of American Civilization. In addition to his highly acclaimed work in American history, Perkins also held the copyright to his famed aunt's Boston Cooking School cookbook series and oversaw its revisions. To honor the series' tenth edition, his wife Wilma Lord Perkins undertook a complete revision of the cookbook and enlisted A. M. K. to do the extensive illustrations. It was a project that was quite in line with the artist's empirical ethos, as Fannie Farmer and the Boston Cooking School stood for the quantification of American cooking through its introduction of food science and standardized measurements into the domestic kitchen. The artist took this project quite seriously, as evidenced by her eighty-odd detailed illustrations, which were clearly taken from life and handled with the exactitude of scientific renderings. However, more than just an illustrator, A. M. K. took on the role of collaborator with Wilma Lord Perkins, as the two women experimented together with various recipes that they suspected might be in need of some modernizing updates. The result was a comprehensive and celebrated thick volume that earned the artist a handsome salary and great exposure.

Alison Mason Kingsbury. Studies: Fannie Farmer Bookbook [1959]
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Study of herbs.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Alison Mason Kingsbury. Studies: Fannie Farmer Bookbook [1959]
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Study of Boston and bibb lettuce.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Alison Mason Kingsbury. Studies: Fannie Farmer Bookbook [1959]
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Study of salad greens.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Alison Mason Kingsbury. Studies: Fannie Farmer Bookbook [1959]
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Study of romaine and croissants.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Alison Mason Kingsbury. Studies: Fannie Farmer Bookbook [1959]
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Study of a sirloin steak.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

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