Thompson Cookbooks

Ruth Plumly Thompson did a number of advertising booklets for various companies - Here I show four titles done in the 1920's for Royal Baking.


The Little Gingerbread Man, Billy in Bunbury, and The Comical Cruises of Captain Cookie are all for Royal Baking Powder, and The Prince of the Gelatin Isles for Royal Gelatin.

These books all have cute stories in rhyme and colorful illustrations, together with a number of recipes. Gingerbread Man was the first of these booklets, from 1923, and was illustrated by Charles Coll, who also did illustrations for some other early Thompson writings. I've tried some of the recipes from The Little Gingerbread Man, and they weren't bad - although they all rely very heavily on baking powder!

I also have a poster that was issued to advertise the Gingerbread Man booklet as a free give-away. I've often wondered if similar posters were ever done for any of the other booklets.