Recipe manuscripts online

The Wellcome Library holds an unrivalled collection of domestic recipe manuscripts, with over 270 16th- to 19th-century volumes. These manuscripts are increasingly popular for a diverse range of research on topics including:

• food history
• domestic medicine in the medical marketplace
• recipes as scientific experimentation
• women as medical practitioners
• experimental archaeology
• herbal practice
• recipe manuscripts and print culture
• local, national and global economic frameworks
• recipes as autobiography.

To improve access to this heavily used collection, we have placed online digital versions of all the 17th-century volumes (including volumes that span the 17th and 18th centuries).

The original manuscripts may still be consulted in the Library, but now researchers can freely access over 70 volumes and 20 000 pages of recipes from outside the Library.

Browsing the recipes

To find the digital versions

• Browse, or go to our Archives and Manuscripts catalogue and search on 'recipe books project' in the 'Any Text' field and 'item' in Level field.
• Click on the blue number next to each manuscript in your hitlist to open its catalogue record, and scroll down to the digital PDF version.

To find a specific manuscript by manuscript number

• Go to the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue and search on 'ms.xxxx' (number as appropriate) in the 'Reference' field.
• To browse the entire manuscript, click on the blue number next to the first entry in your hitlist and scroll down to the digital PDF version.
• To browse individual openings, click on the subsequent blue numbers as above.

Video tutorial: Browsing 17th and early 18th century recipe manuscripts [Running time: 1 min 41 s]

Searching the texts

The manuscripts have been indexed by recipe title and subject (please note that individual recipe ingredients have not been indexed).

The subject terms are drawn from a combination of Medical Subject Headings and Library of Congress Subject Headings.

You can look for a specific recipe, disease, symptom or affected body part by searching the recipe titles by keyword, or the whole texts by subject.

Since the recipe titles tend to be brief, you are likely to find a combination of keyword and subject searches most effective.

To search recipe titles by keyword

• Go to Archives and Manuscripts catalogue and enter your keyword plus the limiting text 'recipe books project' in the 'Any Text' field, e.g. 'piles recipe books project'.
• Scroll down to select And under 'Word Options', click on 'Search'.
• To view the recipes in your hitlist, click on the blue number next to each entry and scroll down to the digital PDF version.

NB As the recipe titles have been indexed exactly as written, use truncated searches using * to find variant spellings, e.g. 'suppositor*' will find recipe titles including 'suppositories' and 'suppository'.

To search by subject

• Go to Archives and Manuscripts catalogue and enter your subject term in the 'Subject' field plus the limiting text 'recipe books project' in the 'Any Text' field, then click on 'Search'.

NB The authorised subject terms are not always intuitive, e.g. searching on the term 'piles' in the 'Subject' field brings up no hits. To find the authorised term for the subject you wish to search on:

• click on the blue 'Subject' link, enter your term and click on 'Lookup'.
• The catalogue will direct you to the authorised term, e.g. 'hemorrhoids' for 'haemorrhoids' or 'piles'.
• Click on 'USE', then click on 'Term' to enter the subject term in your search form, then click on 'Search'.
• To view the recipes in your hitlist, click on the blue numbers as above.

Find out more

Further information:
Archives and Manuscripts
T +44 (0)20 7611 8899
E arch+mss@wellcome.ac.uk

High-resolution copies:
Wellcome Images
T +44 (0)20 7611 8348
E images@wellcome.ac.uk

Source guides to the Wellcome Library's 18th- and 19th century recipe manuscripts

Image gallery showing examples

Warwick University's Recipes, Remedies, Receipts website for articles, bibliography, events and online resources.