Recent publications by Librarian

Sitting high on a hill in the center of Foodsville is the Foodsville Free Library. It was built in 2007 to house every known culinary work published before 1925. The Library's mission, borrowed from Ralph Waldo Emerson, is chiseled into its facade: "Free books leave us Free and make us Free!"

Foodsville Historian Paige Miller has written the following account:

"Foodsville was founded by a number of early visitors who, seeing an abundant land of opportunity, envisioned a city of food lovers who would move in, mine the natural resources of 300 years of American culinary works, refine them, add to them, and share them with all who traveled through.

But the history of Foodsville began in 1976, when Foodsville founders from Applewood Books began a small company to publish books. Over the next three decades, the company published books from the past that people would be interested in today. Applewood thrived on open content, publishing books from America's living past. From Mourt's Relation, the story of the Pilgrims to the first African-American cookbook, What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Applewood's list is eclectic and original, telling the story of America through its primary sources.

In 2004, Applewood Books joined with the Ingram Book Company for distribution services. During the fall of 2005, it became clear that technology, printing, and distribution changes were coming together to enable Applewood, through Ingram, to expand its mission further. At that time, Applewood began exploring ways that it could lower its cost to make more reprints available. The following year, in 2006, the company was able to achieve its goal to publish a book a day, increasing its output from 75 titles per year to 750 through using innovative technologies to convert already-captured digital files into printable books.

But Foodsville's future was truly impacted by a cooperative publishing agreement between Applewood and The Culinary Trust, the philanthropic arm of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In 2005, The Culinary Trust, whose mission is to preserve cookbooks, approached Applewood to reprint more cookbooks from the past. Although Applewood had reissued more than a dozen important cookbooks, The Culinary Trust wanted to see that number expanded. Over the next couple of years, Applewood published a modest number of books with the Culinary Trust. The dream of having every cookbook ever published available became a vision that Applewood began pursuing, trying to interest potential strategic partners.

In 2006, Applewood met folks from HP Labs. Out of this chance meeting, the city of Foodsville was sketched out. In 2007, the keys to Foodsville were passed to the city's early settlers: hearty individuals who helped to shape a young and growing city. Applewood Books continued to support the Foodsville Free Library, and the Mill operators of Foodsville began producing free books in ever-increasing numbers, which brought more people to Foodsville to taste and talk about the city's most precious product."

Over the past year, the Foodsville Free Library was constructed, electronic stone by electronic stone by these early pioneers. In November of 2007, the library was dedicated by the Honorable Mayor of Foodsville to "its people, who will make of it what they will."

New Acquisitions

danac@awb.com — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:39:31

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Foodsville Library Acquisition Report

Week of November 12, 2007

The following books are currently being processed at the Foodsville Mill and are scheduled to be received by the Foodsville Free Library this week.

The Virginia Housewife: or, methodical cook by Mary Randolph (1836)

Originally published in 1838, Randolph's work is more than just a regional cookbook. It also gives a picture of dishes that were popular around the country at the time. Reflecting the influence of cuisines from other cultures, The Virginia Housewife preserves the multiethnic flavors of American cuisine of the 1830s.

The White House Cook Book: a comprehensive cyclopedia of information for the home by Fanny Lemira Gillette & Hugo Ziemann (1887)

Incredibly popular and long-lasting, The White House Cook Book has been one of the most enduring cookbooks in American history. This is a comprehensive collection of the menus and recipes of the American and White House kitchen.