MOUNTAIN MEASURES: A Collection of West Virginia Recipes | Junior League of Charleston, West Virginia 1993 ©1974

MOUNTAIN MEASURES: A Collection of West Virginia Recipes is a regional cookbook first published in 1974 by the Junior League of Charleston, West Virginia.  The cookbook has been named a Southern Living Hall of Fame winner.

This is a difficult to find Junior League cookbook and includes photographs accompanied by bits of local history, and poetry from Louise McNeill, a West Virginia poet and historian of the Appalachian region.   Many recipes were gathered from West Virginia and Charleston persons of note, and those recipes are accompanied by the cook’s biography.  Recipes deemed “local” are marked with a quilt square icon.

The 394-page comb bound hardcover cookbook is in good used condition. There is some light discoloring on some of the page edges--particularly on the top. No bent edges, tears and handwritten notes inside, other than the previous owner's name on the inside cover.  Inside the back cover, there is some roughness on the inside backing. The Southern Living Hall of Fame sticker is on the front. This is a copy from the ninth printing in 1993. 

A must-have addition to your culinary library, this cookbook is an example of a community cookbook. Frequently published by a group of women as a fundraiser, these treasured cookbooks allow us to gain a unique insight into American culture, social norms, and the collective history during an era. Through the recipes, kitchen equipment used, household hints and headnotes, the reader is provided a valuable snapshot of historical details that might not be documented elsewhere. As a result, these cookbooks have become unofficial records of the past, often valued by collectors and culinary scholars more for their historical relevance, than the recipes inside.