This “card” was added to a cookbook that I own that was published in 1887 in Houlton, Maine. The title pages reads “Tried, Tested, Proved. The Home Cook Book, Recipes Proved and Contributed by the Congregationalist Ladies of Houlton and their Friends.”

As you can see, the card advises that some of the recipes contain [gasp] alcohol. That is well enough, but it is interesting to note that this book is not anonymous so the ladies who “unthinkingly have given recipes containing brandy, wine and cider: six in all,  but six too many of that kind,” are all named. Mrs. Theo. Cary and Mrs. A. H. Fogg certainly strayed in their fruitcake recipes, unlike, for example, Mrs. Bumpus whose recipe had no intoxicating spirits.

It’s a remarkable book to own since it is well sprinkled with ingredients and it’s possible to tell which recipes were used. Just in case you are curious, yes, the recipes with brandy were used and even contain marginal notations.