A Cookbook Lover's Guide to

The Culinary Arts Institute

and Culinary Arts Press

Through 1937
© 2000 by Frank Daniels

If you can provide any information, please do so; your information will be appreciated. Simply e-mail me at this address.

This website proposes to be a history of the Culinary Arts Institute, based in Chicago, which has published many useful cookbooks throughout the years and which at one time was the leading publisher of cooking literature. All works are listed in roughly chronological order, with a few exceptions.

Butterick/Delineator Material

Predating Culinary Arts Press:

Before Leonard S. Davidow published his first cookbook, the Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook, in 1934, there were several influential books which would be used by CAP/CAI as the company expanded. We must begin in the middle of the 19th century.

The Butterick (Publishing) company opened in NY in 1864 after Ellen Butterick suggested the invention of the sewing pattern (in Spring '63) to her husband Ebenezer, who began marketing them publicly in 1866. Butterick quickly became the leading marketing agent for items directed at women. To this day, the name Butterick is still associated with sewing patterns; their presence online can be found at this location. The Delineator was originally a fashion magazine intended to market these patterns. It was not Butterick's first magazine, for the Ladies' Quarterly had begun in 1867, and in 1868, the Metropolitan Monthly was issued. The Delineator began as a stand-alone magazine in 1872 or 1873, but some time "in 1875, the Quarterly and Monthly were merged and became Delineator." (Delineator, 9/36, p. 66) The company continued to expand after Ebenezer Butterick's death on March 31, 1903. Famous author Theodore Dreiser was an editor for the Delineator in 1907. Recipes began to appear, and a desire arose for Butterick to publish a cookbook, or two, or three....

The Pattern Cook Book, published in 1890, appears to have been Butterick's first attempt at producing a hardback book directed at the cooking public. The grand success of their sewing patterns is reflected in the title. No editor or individual author is listed. This 624 page book is most difficult to locate. It was part of the Metropolitan Culture Series, which included books on manners, social life, housekeeping, beauty, and "physical culture." Each of the books cost one dollar originally.

Soon after, Butterick issued the 72 page softback book, The Perfect Art of Canning and Preserving. The book was part of the Metropolitan Pamphlet Series, which was issued quarterly.

In 1892, Butterick issued the 76 page softback book, The Correct Art of Candy Making (at Home). Not only does the book describe how to make many different kinds of candy, but also a number of different candy containers are depicted. This too was part of the Metropolitan Pamphlet Series, which was issued quarterly. The cover states that the volume came out in March, 1892; copies from 1894 display the copyright as from 1894. Every book in the series cost 15 cents, including those that did not deal with cooking. The booklet was reissued in 1902 with a different cover.
See the 1902 edition

In mid-1892, another book in the series, Dainty Desserts, came out. This one deals with puddings, custards, pies, creams, frozen desserts, and much more. Original cost: 15c.

Yet another book in the series, from September of 1892, was called Extracts and Beverages. The 36 page booklet indicates how to prepare syrups, beverages, and "various toilette accessories" to boot.


Volume V, No. 1 and Volume VI, No. 2 of the "brown cover" series mentioned above were Butterick's Correct Cookery, issued first in March of 1899 and again in May of 1900. Listed as part of the "Metropolitan Handy Series," Correct Cookery contains material from the Pattern Cook Book. It would be improper, though, to call this a revision of the Pattern Cook Book, since so much material is new or different. More correctly we say that the Pattern CB was a source for this 204 page book. Original cost: 25c. Drawing of a chef on the front cover.

The original Butterick CB, edited by Helena Judson, goes back to 1911. That volume does not appear similar to the CAP material. However, its subsequent edition, the New Butterick CB, originally printed in 1924, contained much the same format as the CAI collection that would be taken from it. The revision was undertaken by Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer, chairs of the Cornell University School of Home Economics, with the assistance of thirteen members of the department. Cornell's Home Economics school had developed largely under the tutilage of Van Rensselaer and Rose, who headed the project together for 25 years. By 1920, the School of Home Economics was ready to become the first College of Home Economics in the New York system, but there were significant obstacles in the state legislature. An alliance between Cornell and Butterick/Delineator proved to be most beneficial for both parties. Van Rensselaer also became the Home-making Editor of the Delineator magazine, and in 1923, the National League of Women Voters selected her as one of the twelve most distinguished women in the United States. Butterick's 1925 publication The Story of a Pantry Shelf reports that over sixty colleges adopted the 1924 New Butterick Cook Book as a textbook for Home Economics. Van Rensselaer died in 1932; Cornell University has a building named on her behalf, a structure that was in the process of construction at the time of her death. Flora Rose retired in 1940.

The Butterick Book of Recipes and Household Helps (1927, 255pp.) is not mentioned in any CAP/CAI publication as having any bearing on their literature, but Col. Allen indicates its importance. Much of its material appears in the Delineator CB, first published the following year, a book which is mentioned by way of copyright information in the American Woman's CB.

The 1927 edition of The Butterick Book of Recipes and Household Helps has 256pp.

Throughout this period, the Delineator Institute was publishing original cookbooklets. These cost 10c to 25c each and were available directly from the Delineator Home Institute, where Elizabeth Bennett was Service Director. At least through 1927, these booklets were tested at the Home Economics Department of Cornell University. Every one of the booklets appears now to be scarce. The Delineator booklets were collected into the various hardback books and were eventually copied (virtually verbatim) into CAI's American Woman's CB.

Delineator Service Booklets known to relate to cooking include:

In that numbering system, which is found in a Delineator advertising flyer from early 1930 and which does not appear to be chronological, the Delineator Cook Book (below) is numbered 34. Many of the booklets cost 10c each, but #'s 5, 11, 16, 23, 25, and 48 were larger, costing 25c. Item 14 cost 20c originally. Prices changed as time passed, however. A box to contain ten booklets was sold for 25c; these boxes are scarce today.

The original edition of The Delineator CB dates to 1928 and was reprinted in 1934. Officially, it is a revision of the New Butterick CB, having been revised under the direction of Mildred Maddocks Bentley, the director of the the Delineator Institute. It has 788pp and is reasonably hard to locate. The 1934 edition, apparently the most recent, was also a source for the CAI material. In fact, the American Woman's CB (1939) states "from the Delineator CB" and "edited by the Delineator Institute" on the interior copyright page. Original price: $2.65; (later) discounted price $2.50.

The Delineator CB was supplemented the following year:

The 1929 (222 pp.) edition of New Delineator Recipes exists in 4 different cover configurations: red print; light green print; dark green print; or black print. Regardless of the colors, the first printings seem to be the copies with fancy scrolling around the title on the title page. Information on the cover of the '30 edition shows that it "includes ten recipes by Ann Batchelder" (224pp).
Copies in lower grades are generally not collected.

In 1932, the ten Batchelder recipes and other material were collected into Cookery For Today. 164 pp. This was published by the Delineator Institute, Butterick Publishing Co..
The book was bound in purple cloth with nice decorative graphics on the front board.

[From 1930 through at least 1934, Ann Batchelder developed recipes for Delineator that were published in the magazine.
Batchelder's other publications, not through Butterick, include:
Ann Batchelder's Own Cookbook, published by Barrows originally in 1941, apparently reissued as Ann Batchelder's Cookbook in 1957, also by M. Barrows & Company.
Batchelder was the one time food editor of the Ladies Home Journal, and so, with the Delineator association, her name was somewhat important. These later cookbooks fetch $15 to $25 each.]

As part of the Delineator Service booklet series, notice the "Yearbooks" listed above. There were five such books, called Year Book of Delineator Recipes (11/29, later "First Yearbook"; 56pp.); Second Yearbook (11/30; 48pp.), Third Year Book (11/31; 48pp.), Fourth Year Book (2/33; 48pp.), and Fifth Year Book (2/34; 40pp.). The timing of the booklets marked the years following the release of the Delineator Cook Book in 1928. From 1930 on, they consisted of the recipes developed that year for Delineator by Ann Batchelder. Since these booklets occupy a special place as supplements to the hardback book which became the basis for a major CAI publication, it is worthwhile to mention them separately. Here is a photo of Yearbooks three through five. Each of the five booklets seldom comes up; therefore, they are difficult to evaluate. Three printings are known for the first Yearbook, while two printings are known for the second.

NOTE: Elizabeth Bennett left Delineator in Spring of 1930. She was soon replaced as Service Editor by Dorothy Higgins, who held the post at least into 1933.

Click here to read more about Culinary Arts Press and the Culinary arts Institute (from 1934 on).

The last revision of this page was on 07 Nv 04.