Published in New York in 1863, this volume in the American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection is a comprehensive homemaking and cookbook reference compiled by the author to bring “excelsior” (excellence) into every housekeeper’s kitchen and home.

There is no information available about Laura Trowbridge, but her goal in compiling Excelsior Cook Book is clear. Using her twenty-five years experience and selections from the “best and most approved authors,” she wished to encourage contemporary homemakers to achieve excellence in the “skillful discharge of domestic duties.” As cited on the title page of her encyclopedic reference, the book includes: cooking of all kinds of meats, fowl, fish; recipes for gravies, soups, sauces, bread, cakes, pastry, puddings, custards, preserves, and essences; canning fruit; methods for making butter, cheese, and soaps; antidotes for poison, cookery for the sick; a family physician’s manual; advice on gardening, care of house plants; and many “receipts” for items necessary to the “personal toilet.” As was the custom of the day, a number of the various sections of the book are word-for-word reprints from other books and compiled by many different authors.