Knox Gelatine Cookbooklet Trio 1927/1929/1933

Set of three Knox Gelatine Cookbooklets.

This instant collection of recipe booklets from Knox Gelatine includes Dainty Desserts Salads-Candies (1927), Dainty Desserts Candies Salads (1929), and Desserts Salads Candies and Frozen Dishes (1933).  Each is filled with beautiful color illustrations of both food and tableware, an instant trip back in time to the dining rooms of the 1920s and 1930s.  The two 1920s books contain 47 pages while the 1933 edition totals 71 pages.  each is approximately 4 1/2" x 6 3/4".

The story behind these advertising cookbooklets is a fascinating one. Charles Knox founded the company in 1889 and quickly became known for his brash slogans and innovative advertising most of which were revolutionary at the time, thus earning him the title “the Napoleon of Advertising."  When he passed away in 1908, Knox left his wife to run the largest unflavoured gelatine manufacturing company in the world.  Upon assuming responsibility for the company, Rose Knox re-evaluated her husband’s business methods and elaborate advertising stunts and made the wise business decision to concentrate on selling gelatine to the American housewife.  She reasoned that since gelatine was bought and used predominantly by women, and since women were more interested in foods that were economical, nutritious and easy to prepare, she would market Knox Gelatine accordingly. She set up a test kitchen and developed hundreds of recipes which were printed on gelatine packages, in leaflets, and in illustrated cookbooks like these. 

Rose Knox is recognized as one of America’s foremost businesswomen and the first female member of the American Grocery Manufacturers’ Association.  In 1929, the year the middle cookbooklet in our trio was published, she became the first female director of the AGMA!