07/16/2025
"Margaret Brown's French Cookery Book," a mysterious 1886 volume I've had for a while now but have just discovered that its author was African-American.
The preface contains our sole biographical datum about the author: "My experience in the work has prompted me to issue this book, every part of which has been dictated by me, and carefully written down by my friend, Louise A. Smith," which may imply that Brown herself could not write.
After some Google-fu, however, I was able to shed some more light on Brown. I happened upon Elizabeth McHenry's book "To Make Negro Literature" which led me to Daniel Alexander Payne Murray's pamphlet bibliography "Preliminary list of books and pamphlets by Negro authors," which lists Brown.
There is still much mystery about Brown's life, upbringing, and how she came to write "French Cookery." Sitting on the shelf, the book, with a blank black spine, is fairly anonymous, but the recipes inside reveal a rich life and a community built around cuisine.
