OP: Seven Victorian Era Mrs. DeWitt Owen Titles

$300 · Offered by Kitchen Arts & Letters

Tri-Weekly Star, Dixon, IL, ND. Paperback. Very Good. Surprisingly little is known about this entrancing series of booklets compiled between approximately 1898 and 1900. The author, who refers to herself only as Mrs. DeWitt C. Owen, was in fact named Ella "Nellie" Upton Leighton and was married to Dewitt Clinton Owen who owned the Dixon, Illinois Tri-Star Weekly newspaper which printed the series. We are aware of eight booklets total—none more than 16 pages—of which we are offering seven here (the omitted title, Sick Room Necessities , is the most scarce and one we’ve never handled before). The others, however, are also relatively rare. Notably, each is individually designed and string-bound, using two large stitches, and contained in somewhat fragile paper wrappers. The name Ripley turns up, unexplained, in the titles of two of the books, and, in another instance, “Ripley Series” is used on the title page. They are: Ripley’s Sweet Sixteen —Sixteen sweets recipes, including maple cream, orange straws, penuche, cocoanut squares. Fine interior in red paper wrappers, lightly chipped and discolored. Tape repair to the interior. One of two titles carrying a date, 1898. Murphy’s Pets — Fifty potato recipes including potato noodles, potato and fish timbale, Saratoga chips, and potato chocolate cream candies. Fine interior with a minimally rubbed potato brown wrapper. Miss Salad and Her Trousseau —Thirty-two salads and dressings—banana salad, walnut salad, nasturtium and cream cheese

• Binding: Hardcover

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