Calendar of Cake & Afternoon Tea.. de Hammond, Dorothy C (ed) - 1929

Hammond, Dorothy C (ed). Calendar of Cake & Afternoon Tea Delicacies. [FIRST EDITION] Country Women's Association of NSW: [Sydney], [1929]. (280x140mm cream stiff printed wrappers, 50 Ll, verso blank. (Hoyle 305) wrappers lightly soiled, foxed & fished;

HAMMOND, Dorothy C (compiler and editor) [Dorothy Coverdale née Horwood (1891 - 1936)]

Country Women's Association of New South Wales Calendar of Cake and Afternoon Tea Delicacies: a recipe for each day of the year.

[Sydney] : Country Women's Association of NSW, [1929]¹. First edition².  Printed by Mortons Ltd, Sydney.  Foreword by Jessie Sawyer, State President.

Wall hanging calendar format (280x140mm) cream stiff blue and gold printed wrappers, stapled, 50 leaves, printed recto, verso blank, text printed blue.  Bound at the top edge, holes punched with a blue cord for wall hanging, as published.  Wrappers lightly sunned, soiled, foxed & fished; preliminaries and edges lightly foxed; internally near fine.

There are 365 recipes, one for every day (but not 29 February).  Most are attributed to their donor noting their local branch.  Recipes were contributed from all over New South Wales.  A wonderful compilation of Australian country baking during the Interwar period illustrating Australia's rich baking heritage from British and European immigration as well as Australian favourites such as pavlova, lamingtons, ginger sandwiches, and Anzac biscuits as well as a wide range of traditional dried fruit cakes.   There are also American, Jewish, German and French recipes scattered throughout.

The Country Women's Association was established in New South Wales in 1922 as a non-political non-sectarian women's association advocating for the improvement of conditions for women and children in rural Australia.  Branches and State organisations were established throughout Australia shortly after.  Today the CWA is Australia's largest women's organisation.  The NSW Association alone has over 10,000 members and over 400 branches.   Due in part to publishing numerous cookery books such as this over the years, the CWA has become a byword for baking and cookery excellence in rural Australia.


Dorothy Hammond was an early member of the CWA Wagga Wagga Branch (established in 1923) and by 1925 was elected Branch President.  In July 1929 she called for contributions of recipes for a fundraising cookbook.  The cookbook was quickly compiled and published.  Dorothy Hammond did almost all of the work in the production of the book.   Between 1929 and 1931, at the height of the Depression, sales of the cookbook raised more than £2,250; an extraordinary sum for its time.   In 1931, she was honoured with a life membership of the CWA for her work on this and another cookbook on puddings.  In 1937, an avenue of trees was planted and a road named in Wagga Wagga in recognition of her significant contribution to improving rural life.

Rare.  A very good copy.

§  OCLC records only 8 holdings all editions, 7 in Australia, one at Harvard (3rd ed).  None of the holdings are described as a first edition.  Later editions are also held by Port Macquarie Museum and Charles Sturt University.
§  Hoyle 305.

¹ Advertised for sale at 2/- on 31 October 1929, Sydney Morning Herald.
²  The fifth edition, published 1933, gives a publishing history of the calendar stating incorrectly that the first edition of 5,000 copies was published October 1930.