The House Servant's Directory : or, A Monitor for Private Families, Comprising Hints on the Arrangement and Performance of Servants' Work ... and Upwards of 100 Various and Useful Receipts, Chiefly Compiled for the Use of House Servants

Robert Roberts

Boston : Munroe and Francis ; New York : C.S. Francis, 1827

[First edition of the first commercially published book (and cookbook) written by an African American in the United States.] Housed in a specially made clamshell box.  Bound in early 20th century black cloth. Good binding and cover. (i)-xiv, (1)-180pp. 8 pages (155-162 p.) supplied in facsimile (parts of "A Word to Head of Families," and "How to Make a fire of Lehigh Coal"). Notes on the front paste down state that this copy was owned by George Putnam, acquired in Portland Maine.  Refs: Lowenstein 107; American Imprints 30468; Blockson 9537 (See note).  

Robert Roberts (1780-1860) was born in South Carolina.  It is unknown if he was born into freedom or slavery.  He worked as head butler for Christopher Gore, Governor and Senator from Massachusetts.  Later in life, he became known in Boston as an abolitionist and advocate for equality of education.  He contributed to William Lloyd Garrison's paper, The Liberator.  In this guide for servants, Roberts provides 105 home recipes.  Roberts takes a measured tone and states that "'The labourer is worthy of his hire,' and should be treated in health or in sickness with pity and feeling.  If it is necessary to place servants under strict surveillance, let them at least be treated as fellow beings and candidates for a future world."  - 154 p. Some of the recipes include one for "a most delicious lemonade", "how to refine cider", make "a cheap and wholesome beer", "to recover a person from intoxication", "To make the best ginger beer", etc.  A rare and interesting view into the world of the early American domestic.  The recipes included in this book constitute the first published cookbook by an African American in the United States.