MANUSCRIPT. [A hand-written compendium of craft and household advice. N.p: circa 1795-1828.] 450pp. manuscript, 8vo (198 x 174mm.) Numbered pages in a single legible hand with hundreds of pieces of practical and medical advice. (Browning, occasional spotting, several gatherings loose.) Contemporary morocco over marbled paper covers (boards detached, heavily rubbed). Note: apparently gleaned from various sources over a period of time, the manuscript includes detailed advice on how to make various shades of ink, including Indian ink, as well as 'sympathetic' or 'secret inks'. There is plentiful advice on preventing rust, removing spotting from paper, cleaning marble and various crafts. There are many recipes and methods of preservation, including a 'cheap diet for the poor'. But also extensive notes on 'how to make puff paste for all sorts of pastry'. The recipes also relate to health, including cures for whooping cough ('take one glass of the best rum') as well as more ambitious cures for cancer that involve leeches, and a cure for deafness that involves smoking strong tobacco ('fill the nostrils… and hold tight').