The question of what a manuscript cookery book is or can be is still far from settled. Based on detailed archival research, this book establishes a basic typology of manuscript cookery books, with a focus on the function they served in the life of their owners: memory aid, manual of practical instruction, book in its own right, and showpiece. The author also investigates the work situation of women through an analysis of the educational role of the manuscript cookery book and its function as a tool for the professional cook. It represents a substantial contribution towards closing gaps in knowledge and material relating to reading and writing in eighteenth-century Austria.

Helga Müllneritsch is a postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University with a research interest in female agency, manuscript cookery books, and book history in the long eighteenth century. She holds a PhD from the University of Liverpool (UK), an MA and a BA from the University of Graz (Austria), and taught at several universities in the UK and China.

The form and function of the eighteenth-century Austrian manuscript cookery book: the memory aid; the manual of practical instruction, serving as a reference manual and a teaching aid; the book in its own right, equal to a printed book; the prestige object, made or commissioned to own a showpiece.