Glasgow Cookery Book ("Purple Book")

The originator of the Glasgow Cookery Book was Miss Ella Glaister, the then Principal of the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science (its first Principal since the Glasgow School of Cookery and the West End School of Cookery merged to form the College in 1908).

The following minute from the College’s Cookery Committee is dated 16 June 1910 –

"Miss Glaister stated that she was preparing a new book of recipes, which are used in training, and which she hoped to have in the hands of the printers soon. She stated that the first edition of the book would require to be paid for as soon as printed, and the price would be recovered, as the copies sold, and that she thought the book would sell at 1s 6d a copy"

In July 1999 the Glasgow paper The Evening Times reported that the Glasgow Cookery Book always featured on the Top 10 hardback list of the then city bookseller John Smith & Son.

"The ingredients may have first been stirred together in 1910, but the 514 page classic remains largely unchanged.  The lack of glossy colour photos doesn't seem to bother thousands of cooks from New Lanark to New Zealand.  Forget nouvelle cuisine.  Old favourites like Sheep's Head Broth, Rabbit Pie, and Elderberry Champagne still take the biscuit.  . . . . . . . An incredible 500,000 households across the world are now proud owners of a copy of the cookery bible, which contains 856 recipes."

The Institutional Archive holds various editions (listed below) of the Glasgow Cookery Book. Many of these editions have hand written notes with corrections for future editions, signatures of past principals, staff members and students, and various added recipes.

1^st edition c1910
5^th edition 1919
8^th edition 192-
9^th edition 1930
10^th edition 193-
12^th edition 1938
new revised edition 1951
3^rd revised edition 1958
revised edition 1970
metric edition 1975
also two editions with unknown dates

The Glasgow Cookery Book was used as a text book by Glasgow Caledonian University until academic session 02/03.

[Back]

Last Updated: 11 January, 2006
Edited by: webteam@gcal.ac.uk