National Network for Equitable Library Service

Published in 1885 in New York, Canoe and Camp Cookery by well-known outdoor writer Henry H. Soule is one of the earliest outdoor cookbooks published. Focused on practical recipes for simple but filling meals, the cookbook has two sections: one for the modern-day version of a backpacker, emphasizing light weight and ease of transportation; and the other for the more settled camper, describing more elaborate meals that can be fixed outdoors. Entries include: The Canoeist’s “Grab Box,” Fish Caught in Muddy Streams, Potatoes and Green Corn, Go Light as Possible, Brown Betty, and General Remarks on Cooking Soups. Soule compiled the majority of the recipes from outdoor enthusiasts of the time: hunters, trappers, and army men, but actually tested each recipe himself during his own outdoor adventures. This edition of Canoe and Camp Cookery was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The Society collects, preserves and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.