Lady Mary's Book of Receipts

Have you ever wondered how to make rice pudding, searched in vain for a recipe for burnt cream, or felt the urge to make refreshing homemade ginger beer? Would you like to know a foolproof cure for lumbago, or how to whip up a soothing salve for scalds and burns? Or perhaps you'd simply like to know an exceptionally effective method for destroying rats?

In the early 1800s Mary Clements compiled a book of just such recipes, remedies and household hints, when she became the...
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Have you ever wondered how to make rice pudding, searched in vain for a recipe for burnt cream, or felt the urge to make refreshing homemade ginger beer? Would you like to know a foolproof cure for lumbago, or how to whip up a soothing salve for scalds and burns? Or perhaps you'd simply like to know an exceptionally effective method for destroying rats?

In the early 1800s Mary Clements compiled a book of just such recipes, remedies and household hints, when she became the second Lady Leitrim and took over the running of Killadoon, a beautiful Georgian mansion in County Kildare, Ireland. 

Friends, relatives and experts in their field from far and wide wrote to Lady Mary to share their knowledge and wisdom, and she recorded their advice in a notebook, where she kept many of the original letters tucked neatly inside the front cover. 

Part cookbook, part household reference and part social history, Lady Mary's Book of Receipts offers a fascinating glimpse into life in a Georgian home, as well as some wonderful original recipes, remedies and cures - many of which would be deadly today!