The American Frugal Housewife, by MRS.Childs and Samuel Williams(engraver)

First published in 1828, Lydia Maria Child's The American Frugal Housewife was an extremely popular nineteenth-century manual for homemakers. Interesting recipes and remedies, advice on parenting and the myriad responsibilities of housekeeping are all put forth in straightforward, no-nonsense, Yankee prose. Mrs. Child was an early feminist and abolitionist who supported her family through her various literary activities as a writer, a pamphleteer. Samuel Williams (1788-1853) was an English draughtsman and wood engraver.Williams was born at Colchester, on 23 February 1788. He was apprenticed to the Colchester printer J. Marsden, but taught himself to draw and engrave on wood, and adopted engraving as his profession. He established himself in Colchester, then in 1819 settled in London.[1] In the early part of his life Williams also painted miniatures, and a few oil pictures. He became known as a wood engraver, a specialist in landscapes. Also having a facility in design, he used his own drawings for a high proportion of his cuts. His first patron was Benjamin Crosby the publisher, for whom he illustrated a work on natural history in 1810.Williams died on 19 September 1853