Early Modern Martha
A mini-podcast series on the life and work of Hannah Woolley
Spoiler Alert: she was badass.
The frontispiece and title page of A Guide To Ladies, 1668.
“I hear some of you say, ‘I wish Mrs. Wolley would put forth some new experiments’; and to say the truth, I have been importun’d by divers of my friends and acquaintences to do so.”
Hannah Woolley, as a cookery writer, and the mistress of her own cooking school, has been referred to by several scholars as the Martha Stewart of the early modern period. With all respect to Ms. Stewart, I believe she was more than just a domestic guru – she was a truly badass lady. With her husband dead and no means of supporting herself, Woolley took a huge risk by spending what money she had to publish the first book on cookery by a woman and achieved not only self-sufficiency but a level of fame that would turn her into the foremost voice of the domestic arts.
Her words above addressed to her fan base, still resonate 400 years later. One can imagine the excitement of her readers when she came out with a new book of recipes, medicinal cures, and household tips. Martha may have coined the term “homekeeping”, but Hannah Woolley invented it.
In this mini-podcast series, I discuss some of what we know about the life and work of Hannah Woolley, and cast some light on what her relationship may have been like with her publisher, a handful of books attributed to Woolley, but likely not written by her, and what it was like to be a famous authority on domestic arts in the 17th century. We may know all that we ever will about this fascinating, courageous woman and her life; this podcast invites you to consider some of those unknowns. I hope you enjoy listening!
Early Modern Martha: Trailer
Who was Hannah Woolley? Join me as we dive into Early Modern Martha.
Transcript
Episode 1: Wife, Mother, Widow, Survivor
She’s a young widow and times are getting rough. What’s a woman in early modern England to do?
Transcript
Episode 2: A Mild Form of Activism
For a woman in Restoration England, even small displays of female empowerment were a big deal.
Episode 3: Don’t Put Words In My Mouth!
You know you’re famous when the guys start knocking off your work.
Episode 4: Woolley, Inc.
How often does success come by being in the right place at the right time?
Episode 5: A 13-Course Banquet For Dummies
Because it’s important to have a dish of young turkeys and no less than six kinds of pie…
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Books sold by Dorman Newman, at the King’s Arms in the Poultry. London: Dorman Newman. Possibly 1673.http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100027340500.0x000001#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=11&xywh=-617%2C-1%2C3337%2C1877
Dla.library.upenn.edu. n.d. Other: Ms. Codex 785 – [Recipe book]. http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/medren/pageturn.html?q=ms+codex+785¤tpage=11&doubleside=0&rotation=0&size=2
Quod.lib.umich.edu. n.d. The queen-like closet; or, Rich cabinet stored with all manner of rare receipts for preserving, candying & cookery. Very pleasant and beneficial to all ingenious persons of the female sex. By Hannah Wolley.. [online] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo;idno=A66847.0001.001
Woolley, Hannah, fl.1670. The Ladies Delight: Or, A Rich Closet of Choice Experiments & Curiosities, Containing the Art of Preserving & Candying both Fruits and Flowers : Together with the Great Cook; Or, the Art of Dressing all Sorts of Flesh, Fowl, and Fish. / by Hannah Wooley. ; to which is Added: The Ladies Physical Closet: Or, Excellent Receipts, and Rare Waters for Beautifying the Face and Body London, Printed by T. Milbourn, for N. Crouch ., 1672.
Woolley, Hannah. A Guide To Ladies, Gentlewomen And Maid. London: Printed by Dorman Newman at the Chyrurgions Arms in Little-Britain neer the Hospital-gate, and Will. Whitwood at the golden Lyon in Duck-lane. 1668. https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/view/search/who/Woolley%2C+Hannah%2C+active+1670%2C+author.?q=a+guide+to+ladies
Woolley, Hannah. The Accomplish’d Ladies Delight in Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery : Containing I. The Art of Preserving, and Candying Fruits and Flowers… II. The Physical Cabinet … III. The Compleat Cook’s Guide, or, Directions for Dressing All Sorts of Flesh, Fowl and Fish … [etc.] Printed Cookbook; Domestic Cookbook. 1686. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Adam Matthew Digital, 2020. http://www.foodanddrink.amdigital.co.uk.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/Documents/Details/LBL_CookeryA_WOL_2
Woolley, Hannah,fl.1670. A Supplement to the Queen-Like Closet, Or A Little of Everything Presented to all Ingenious Ladies, and Gentlewomen. by Hannah Woolley London, printed for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, and T. Sawbridge at the Three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain, 1684.
Secondary Sources
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D’Amore, Manuela, and Michèle Lardy. Essays in Defence of the Female Sex : Custom, Education and Authority in Seventeenth- Century England. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
Ezell, Margaret J.M. “Cooking the Books, or, the Three Faces of Hannah Woolley.” In Reading and Writing Recipe Books, 1550–1800, 159. Manchester University Press, 2018.
Folgerpedia.folger.edu. First Chefs: Fame and Foodways from Britain to the Americas – Folgerpedia. https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/First_Chefs:_Fame_and_Foodways_from_Britain_to_the_Americas#Case_3:_Robert_May:_The_Culinary_Ambassador 2019.
Furdell, Elizabeth Lane. “‘At the King’s Arms in the Poultrey’: The Bookshop Emporium of Dorman Newman 1670–1694.” The London Journal 23, no. 2 (1998): 1–20. doi:10.1179/030580398793077515.
Hobby, Elaine. Virtue of Necessity: English Women’s Writing 1649-88. London: Virago Press, Ltd, 1988.
Hobby, Elaine. “A Woman’s Best Setting out Is Silence: the Writings of Hannah Wolley.” In Culture and Society in the Stuart Restoration: Literature, Drama, History, edited by Gerald MacLean, 179–200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511518959.010.
Hooks, Adam G. “Booksellers’ Catalogues and the Classification of Printed Drama in Seventeenth-Century England.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 102, no. 4 (2008): 445–64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24293688.
Leavitt, Sarah A. From Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Mueller, Sara. “Early modern banquet receipts and women’s theatre.” Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 24 (2011): 106+. Gale Academic OneFile https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A276843458/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=18b611e8.
Staveley, K. and Fitzgerald, K., 2011. Cooking (and Contemplating) New England. Stavelyandfitzgerald.com. https://www.stavelyandfitzgerald.com/blog/posts/7957 5 December 2011.
Wall, Wendy. “Literacy and the Domestic Arts.” Huntington Library Quarterly 73, no. 3 (2010): 383–412. https://doi.org/10.1525/hlq.2010.73.3.383.