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Category: Our Common Ground: 250 Years of Americans Engaging with Nature

Image of Apple Pie recipe in American Cookery.

ſugar and ſpice and everything…not so nice?

Posted by: Ashley Rose Young

Tucked into this copy of American Cookery (1796), often cited as the first American cookbook, is an unexpected and rather scandalous insert. Labeled simply “ADVERTISEMENT,” this errata sheet lays bare a bitter dispute between the book’s author, Amelia Simmons, and the person hired to help prepare her manuscript for print. An errata sheet usually offered …