Indian Recipes From Cherokee Indians of Eastern Oklahoma
Muskogee, Oklahoma: Circa 1965. Octavo, stapled beige wrappers with brown lettering and illustration, [12] pp, titled "Indian Receipes" to front cover. A cookbook of Native American recipes collected by Lulu Gibbons, a Cherokee woman from Westville, Oklahoma. We found little biographical information about Gibbons other than that she was an avid craftsperson and taught rug making and basket weaving to members of her community. This appears to be a quite early edition, if not the first. According to the title page, the cover illustration is by Creek-Seminole artist Jerome Tiger, who has signed the book, and added the date 1965. This suggests that our copy is an unrecorded edition, predating the earliest edition (1966) in OCLC, which has more pages than ours. The title page states that "these recipes have been handed down by word of mouth for generations"; after this, a local couple has inscribed "and the Fullenwinders Charles and Kay" (Charles Fullenwinder was a prominent doctor of Muskogee). The book contains 35 recipes, such as Indian Shuck Bread, Conutchia, dried corn, wild grape dumplings, possum grape drink, fried huckleberries, Indian Hominy, baked squirrel, and more. OCLC with 37 entries across at least three editions, but none with this pagination. Mild creasing and hint of soiling to covers, very good overall. Item #15033
Price: $550.00