If I Had My Own Blue Box:

In connection with a previous post on Table Clothes, I’ve decided to put up some additional information on table linens that never quite seemed to get organized into an article to go with the article on trays. I’ll begin with some information from the 1840’s Workwomen’s Guide.

The author provides a nice chart in her House Linens section suggesting the number of linens required. For the table she suggests 8 to 10 damask breakfast cloths in 4 sizes ranging from 1 1/4 yards x 1 1/4 yards to 2 yards x 2 yards, 8 to 10 table cloths each in damask separated into one suggestion for a Common table-cloth 2 1/2 yards by 2 yards, and 4 table cloths  ranging from 2 1/2 yards by 2 yards to 5 yards by 2 1/2 yards, 1 to 3 largest size table-cloth in fine damask 8 yards by 2 1/2 yards. 1 to 3 “table linen in the piece, per yard” in damask 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/2 yards wide, and the same in Diaper, 3 to 6 dozen fine damask dinner napkins 14 nails wide, 3 to 6 dozen breakfast napkins in Damask 12 nails wide, 3 to 6 dozen Doyleys “White or coloured do.” 6 nails square, 6 to 12 dozen large tray clothes in damask or diaper 1 yard 6 nails long by 2 yards 6 nails wide, and 6 to 12 dozen small tray clothes in damask or diaper 1 yard 3 nails by 13 nails. (She also includes price ranges for these items in English prices.) A separate list of kitchen linens suggests 6 to 12 coarse diaper table cloths as well as many other cloths used in the kitchen.

For table cloths the author says “These vary in quality, according to circumstances. The finest are the most expensive, and are only used for company. The price varies not only with the size, but also with the pattern. The material of which they are made is called damask, and may be purchased up to a certain size in single table-cloths, after which it must be bought in the piece. Care should be taken in choosing a table-cloth, to see that the edges are even, and the threads are regular.”

For dinner napkins, she makes suggestions for the napkins then provides information on how to fold them. “Dinner Napkins. These are also made of damask, and vary in quality and price, according to the pattern. The best are from 50s. to 60s per dozen. The second quality from 18s. to 45s per dozen. Dinner napkins are folded in various ways, and are generally put upon the plate, enclosing the roll or bread. The following modes are those usually adopted. [images to come asap]

The Half-Pyramid shape – Plate 21, fig 7,8,9,10. 1st. Take the cloth as it comes from the wash, and open the square length-wise, drawing the folded napkin to its fullest extent. 2nd. Turn up the ends to meet in the centre. Fig. 7. 3rd. Turn the napkin thus folded, so that the turned ends are below, or underneath. 4th. Turn up each corner, half-handkerchief-wise, towards the centre. Fig. 8. 5th. Turn the cloth again the other side uppermost, and again turn the corners up to the centre. Fig. 9. 6th. Take hold of the corners, A B, and by drawing them under, make the napkin stand on its end, so that C stands up, and the cloth is supported by A B D. the bread is within the hollow, or between the folds thus formed.

The Diamond Shape. Plate 21. fig 7,8,9,11,17. 1st Open the square length-wise, drawing out the napkin to its full length. 2nd. Fold the ends to meet in the centre. Fig. 7. 3rd. Turn up each corner, half-handkerchief-wise, towards the centre. Fig 8. 4th. Turn down the corners towards the centre. Fig 11. 5th. Turn the cloth entirely over, and it is ready. Fig. 9. The bread is put in the mouth of the napkin, which should be turned on the plate towards the person. Fig 17.

Another Mode. Plate 21. Fig. 12, 13, 14, 14, 18, 19. 1st. Open the napkin length-wise. 2nd. Fold it down from the centre, half-handkerchief-wise, at the centre, leaving two long ends. Fig. 12, 18. 3rd. Take the right-hand piece, and draw it over towards the left hand, making the point, B, lie upon the point, A, thus forming a second half-handkerchief, fig. 13; turn the end back towards the right from the centre, fold it back again in several neat straight folds towards the centre, Fig. 19; do the same with the left hand piece, Fig. 14, turn the napkin, and it resembles a diamond on the square, Fig. 15.

Napkins are often used to lay under fish, pastry, or sweet things, in which case, they may be folded in the shape of a diamond, or else the whole napkin, being first laid open, is plaited in regular and very small folds till reduced to the proper width; it is then doubled down a little at each end to secure the folds, and to make it fit the dish, Fig. 16.

About doyleys “These may be either white or coloured, and are sometimes open, of six nails square; they are generally fringed. The best linen doyleys are about 11s.  pre=””>6d. per dozen. The second linen quality, 8s per dozen. The common sort or cotton, 4s. to 5s. 3d. per dozen.”

The table cloths listed under Kitchen Linen are described such “These should be made of coarse and often unbleached diaper the size must depend on the number of servants, or rather the length of the table.”  This is the tablecloth placed upon the table for the servants to dine. It is not the cloth used for covering a cooking table. The cooking table covering is of huckaback or coarse diaper with a minimal fall beyond the edge of the table. The author strongly suggests marking the household linens with ink according to their use (H, P, K, S followed by the type of cloth) as well as purchasing the linens for each area of usage in a different pattern (in the weave) so they will not be easily mixed up.

I will add some more of my notes as I can get to them. I may also add  a post on kitchen and pantry linens because as I look back through my notes, I see there are many of those people may be interested in.

It was so nice to receive this month’s magazine this week. I’ve been so stressed, it was nice to be able to relax with something I can wrap my head around. I’ve decided there is more green on the cover of the magazine then in many places around me. (Sorry South-Westerners, I miss the green of New York.) The cover also made me think of the upcoming Agricultural Society Fair at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. It is about this time of year mom is in the midst of canning a variety of vegetables, pickles and preserves. I don’t know what she is working on for this year given the blight problem with the tomatoes. I’m hoping some basil pesto was done a few weeks back. I love homemade pesto. Mom was the one who entered preserves and food stuffs at the fair over the years. Grandma K. entered quilting and rug hooking projects. I remember her last one she changed at the end just so she could enter it in the fair before she left for the hospital. It was supposed to have a whole additional border with some of the birds from the central motif. My fair entries were more frequent as a kid then as an adult. I won ribbons in the children’s categories for floral arrangements, craft projects and penmanship. If you’ve tried to read my hand writing as an adult you know just how funny that is. The year I can remember we had to write out a portion of the Gettysburg Address.

Back to the magazine.

I want to thank Elizabeth Topping for including pictures from the July event at the Genesee Country Village and Museum. Most people know of the event as “Mumford” rather than by the Museum’s name. I’ve always had trouble making the switch because to me Mumford is the hamlet that several of my family members live in, the old stone church where my brother & sister-in-law and my Grandparents were married is, and where much of my family is laid to rest. This Mumford is much, much older than the Museum which opened the year I was born. The pictures Elizabeth included are lovely. She attended in a year of transition for the event.  This year the museum opened several of the buildings for reenactors to use for scenarios for the event. The plan to do so again next year as well. I am very excited this is the direction the Museum has chosen to go. Since Elizabeth included a nice picture of what I am pretty sure is the kitchen in Livingston-Backus, I have to mention the pottery shown. This pottery is made at the museum in the working pottery. There have been many great artisans over the years. I won’t try to name them because I don’t want to mutilate their names. The pottery is available at the Museum’s Flint Hill Store and  through the Museum’s website www.gcv.org. They have Salt Glaze, Redware and Albany Slip available. I think you will find the prices are very good. For the larger pieces, you may have to visit the store in person. There are many pieces I’ve seen that are not on the site.

That is all for now…..

While reading, I came across this passage that doesn’t really fit into the article, but I just had to share. The author, John Doran, was discussing the extreamnities of table traits in his book, Table Traits with Something about Them, when he included this rather extreame method of serving chocolate. This is obviously Not how the common American would have drank his or her hot chocolate.

“I will only add that the ceremony of serving chocolate was never such a solemnity in England as in France. In the latter country as late as the days of Louis XVI a man of condition required no less than four footmen each with two watches in his fob according to the fashion to help him to take a single cup of chocolate. One bore the tray and one the chocolate pot, a third presented the cup and a fourth stood in waiting with a napkin, and all this coil to carry a morning draught to a poor wretch whose red heels to his shoes were symbols of the rank which gave him the privilege of being helpless.”

This pair of advertisments appeared regularly in the 1865 Notes and Queries:

Chocolate – Menier

(Manufactured only in France.)

The Healtiest, best, and most Delicious aliment for breakfast known since 1825; defies all honest competition, unadulterated, highly nutritious and pure. Sold in 1/2 lb Packets.

Also, especially manufactured for eating as ordinary sweetmeats, or at Dessert:

Chocolate Creams                   Chocolate Nougat                   Chocolate Praline

Chocolate Almonds                Chocolate Pistaches                Chocolate Pastilles

Chocolate Croquettes and Chocolate Liqueures (very delicate).

Wholesale, MENIER, 23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.

Retail, by all responsible houses.

Sold by Grocers and Confectioners.

FRY’S CHOCOLATE

Fry’s French Chocolate for Eating,

in Sticks, and Drops.

Fry’s Chocolate Creams,

Fry’s French Chocolate in Cakes.

J.S. Fry & Sons, Bristol and London.

I’m working on an article for the Citizen’s Companion on Chocolate in the Nineteenth Century. What a perfect research topic to appease boredom and chocolate cravings (which I get when I am bored and stressed.) The article will look at chocolate as it became more readily available due to several inventions during the industrial revolution. It will also include a variety of chocolate recipies. Here is a recipe for one of my favorite chocolates:

“Chocolate Drops, with Nonpareils. –Have some warm chocolate, as for pistachios; add a little butter or oil to it to make it work more free; make it into balls about the size of a small marble, by rolling a little in the hand, or else put some of the paste on a flat piece of wood, on which you form, and take them off with a knife. Place them on sheets of white paper about an inch apart. When the sheet is covered, take it by the corners and lift it up and down, letting it touch the table each time, which will flatten them. Cover the surface entirely with white nonpareils, and shake off the surplus ones. When the drops are cold they can be taken off the paper easily. The bottom of the drops should be about as broad as a sixpence. Some of them may be left quite plain.” (The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook and Baker)