holiday gifts – In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat

Autumn 2025 comes to 1750 House in a blanket of color.

It’s hard to believe that our annual once-a-year shop sale is just two weeks away, especially since our last blog post left off with baking bread in the middle of a summer heatwave. And yet, now here are, firmly swaddled in a blanket of autumn leaves with the woodpeckers performing their yearly tap tap tapping on the shingles of 1750 House reminding us that seasonal celebrations are close at hand. Lots has happened between now and that day in July when the kind bread was rising as high as the humidity and the garden was growing right along with the shop stories.

The lemon balm… one of our star growers in the herb garden this year.

I’m very excited to catch up, especially when it comes to hashing out the happenings of the herb garden and the triumphs and tragedies it endured over our experimental summer. But before we get to all that, I wanted to give everyone a quick calendar reminder in this post about the shop sale since it’s coming up right around the bend.

Two very exciting things are happening this year in regards to the sale. 2025 marks our 5th year of the sale, and it also happens to occur this year on the same day as daylight savings time, so you’ll be able to fall back and enjoy an extra hour of shopping should you so choose.

If you are a regular visitor to the shop, you’ll know that we adore a good floral and that the shop is forever covered in blooms no matter what the time of year. But when it comes to the change of seasons from summer to fall, the shop starts filling with heirlooms that embrace this cozy time of year by reflecting the colors in the landscape that help create autumn vibes in the kitchen and a beautiful feast for the Thanksgiving table. Whether its cookbooks, dishware, or decorative pieces, this year you’ll find some unique heirlooms that not only speak of history but of harvest time too…

If you are new to the All Souls Day sale, every year, November 2nd marks 40% off everything in the Vintage Kitchen shop for one day only. We call it the All Souls Day sale, not for the Catholic holiday that it shares the day with, but for the heirloom history that it encompasses.

All Souls Day is the only communal holiday in the calendar year that celebrates and remembers all deceased ancestors, and to us, that seems like the perfect time to celebrate vintage and antique heirlooms too. None of our shop items would be here today if they had not traveled through time, cherished and cared for in the hands of the people before us.

It’s up to the ITVK team to curate the shop, but the heirlooms do all of the storytelling. Each year, these heirlooms share new insights into the past that help shed light on things in the present. Since no two items in the shop are ever exactly alike, no sale from year to year is ever exactly the same either.

Just like the majority of one-of-a-kind heirlooms that can be found In The Vintage Kitchen, unique stories offer glimpses into culinary history and garden life that occurred decades ago or even centuries earlier. Hidden histories are everywhere and they tend to show up in ways that consistently surprise and delight. Just when you think a napkin is a napkin, a plate is a plate, a book is a book, a detail will jump out from in its history and take us on a marvelous trip through time to understand and explore other places and faces. These are some of the unique heirlooms you’ll find in this year’s sale…

A Rare Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Luncheon Plate c. 1923

With its roots extending all the way back to canal transportation in the 1790s, the C&O Railroad has a long and winding history through the American landscape. Throughout most of its life, C&O trains hauled coal, agriculture, retail products, and travelers between Virginia, the Midwest, the Northeast, and parts of Canada up until the 1980s. In the 1920s, the decade in which this luncheon plate was made, the C & O trains looked like this…

Dining service aboard C&O started in 1899 and was only offered on their luxury lines. Signature menu items included shirred eggs, Saratoga chips, broiled sea fish, baked apples and cream, Spring lamb chops, and French toast with marmalade.

A Signed First Edition of Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook circa 1969

Not every cookbook comes with it’s own theme song, but when Alice May Brock (1941-2024) befriended a young Arlo Guthrie, the whimsical world Alice lived in was all the inspiration Arlo needed to write a hit song called Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, which in turn inspired a cult classic film of the same title. The cookbook came after the song and the movie, but shares the recipes that made Alice a local legend in New England as the proprietor of three restaurants and a catering company. A free-spirit, an artist, and a lover of food and friends, this cookbook features some of the favorites served in her restaurants and at her famous home-hosted dinner parties. It also includes still photos from the movie, Alice’s illustrations, and photos of Arlo and their friends who made a good time out of every meal. Adding an extra layer of the joie-de-vivre she embodied, this particular book is also signed by Alice.

A Collection of Original Floral Feed & Flour Sacks circa 1930s-1940s

You can’t really get any closer to touching real-life history than these floral feed and flour sacks. Stitched into traditional sack shape, similar to a pillowcase, these bound together fabrics were once the commercial packaging that held a variety of pantry staples, including flour, sugar and grain. Made by the manufacturing industry in response to the financial burdens placed upon American families during the Great Depression, this cotton sack packaging was made solely for the purpose of recycling.

Knowing how thrifty and creative the American seamstress was, and knowing how tight household budgets were during the Great Depression and World War II years, grain and food manufacturers packaged their products in these floral cloths specifically so that women could repurpose them by turning the fabric into clothing, household linens, toys, rugs, curtains etc. It was a winning collaboration that not only responded to and eased economic stress, but also showed unwavering care, support and appreciation for customers during one of the most challenging times in American history. This batch in the shop came from a private collector and was so well-cared for across ninety years that each piece of fabric looks practically brand-new. Two of the sacks even retained traces of grain remnants hinting at the original products contained within.

Cotton flour sacks full of flour featured in a 1940s photograph published in LIFE magazine

An Antique Basin Bowl & Wash Pitcher That Changed the American Plumbing Industry

It’s hard to imagine life without modern conveniences like indoor plumbing and bathrooms, but back in the 18th and 19th centuries, this wash basin and pitcher was your gateway to cleanliness, both literally and figurately. Made by Maddock’s Lamberton Works in Trenton, New Jersey, between 1888-1902, the British-born Maddock family were the first immigrants to realize that America needed their own sanitaryware pottery manufacturer. Up until they opened up shop, all basin bowls, wash pitchers, slop jars, chamber pots and grooming sets were imported from England. The Maddocks changed that by producing American chamber sets using local clays, and in doing so, revolutionized the plumbing industry in the process. Recognized as pioneers in the world of sanitary toiletry products, the Maddock family patented several plumbing innovations before they eventually sold the pottery in 1929 to American Radiator & Sanitary Corporation, who would go on to create our country’s indoor heating and plumbing infrastructure including radiators, sinks, bathtubs, and toilets for households across the country.

An Intimate Glimpse into the Life of a Literary Hostess

Guests at the Boston literary salon of Mr. James & Annie Fields were a veritable who’s who of prominent 19th-century writers. Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Sarah Orne Jewett, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Bret Harte, Henry James, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harriet Beecher Stowe, to name a few among were just some of the visitors that spent time in their home along with other notable painters, actors, musicians, and political activists.

In addition to being a writer, activist and philanthropist herself, as well as the wife of distinguished Boston publisher James Fields, Annie Adams Fields (1834-1915) was also a charming, kind-hearted hostess and keen observer of conversation amongst her literary friends. Never interested in self-promotion, scandal or gossip, she regularly recorded bits and pieces of conversations among her friends in diaries that she kept throughout her life. Sketches of dialogue, character traits, pressing matters of the day, viewpoints on life and literature all freshly detailed the lives of extraordinary figures, painting them as humble, human, fallible beings tackling life, their passions and their creativity as anyone might.

Before Annie passed away in 1915, she granted noted biographer Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe Jr. access to all her diaries in his pursuit to record the friendships enjoyed between the Fields and their artistic community. She had one caveat, though, in sharing her books. That Mark’s book not be about her but about the extraordinary friends whom she knew and loved so well. What resulted is this book, Memories of A Hostess: A Chronicle of Eminent Friendships, published in 1922.

Highlighting correspondence, diary entries, cultural events, and touchpoints from history for context, Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe pieced together an intimate glimpse into the lives of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers and artistic minds, courtesy of Annie and James’ record-keeping collection.

Uncovering a portrait to attach to each heirloom’s story is one of our ultimate joys. In this year’s sale, you’ll also meet many new faces. This year, we shared stories of Attia, Alfredo, Pamela, Freddie, Doris, John, Judy, Miroslav, and Marjorie along with her daughters, Kate and Susan…

Clockwise from top left: Attia Hosain, Alfredo Viazzi, Pamela Lyndon Travers, Freddie Bailey, Doris Muscatine, John Ramsbottom, Judy Gethers, Miroslavo Sasek, Marjorie Winslow and daughters.

Each brought many new perspectives of history to life. Attia Hosain (1913-1998) was a writer, actor, cook, broadcast journalist and intellectual focusing on stories of India and British post-colonialism. Freddie Bailey (1904-1992) was famous in Mississippi for her hot pepper jelly along with other regional favorites that made her kitchen the epicenter of Southern food, flavor and hospitality. In the 1930s, Pamela Lyndon Travers (1899-1996) introduced the world to Mary Poppins, who still remains 90 years later, the globe’s most well-known and most beloved nanny. Alfredo Viazzi (1921-1987) was the proud owner of a popular Greenwich Village restaurant known for its convivial atmosphere, great food and reasonable prices. Judy, Doris, Marjorie and Miroslav shared their artistic talents via saucepan and sketchbook. British mycologist John Ramsbottom (1885-1974) taught gardening enthusiasts all about the fascinating world of fungi.

This year also introduced personal stories shared by readers and their families. One of our favorites is that of Beverly, whose collection of handwritten recipes is not just a set of random cards in a box. They are the story of her. Of one woman’s culinary journey as she grew from a young, inexperienced midwestern bride, who barely knew how to boil an egg, into a confident, seasoned California cook and recipe collector over the course of her entire adult life.

Familiar favorites can be spotted in the shop sale too, bringing with them their marvelous heritage stories that are worth retelling again and again. This stemware is the story of champagne, of “drinking the stars,” of a husband and wife couple, Pierre Perrier and Rose Jouet, who created the first true champagne made from the Chardonnay grapes in the Champagne region of France in the early 1800s. Together, with Rose in the vineyard and Pierre in the sales office, they launched Perrier-Jouet Champagne in 1814, a brand that still continues to enchant wine enthusiasts around the world today.

Every year we also like to spotlight the oldest antique in the sale. In this year’s case, it’s this French pottery water pitcher that dates to the 1850s…

More history floats. More stories emerge. In the shop, a cookbook is never just a cookbook. It’s a tactile understanding of what WWII cooking really looked like for women in the 1940s. Its a story of how they had to portray strength, creativity, courage, ingenuity and optimism at every meal, every day while creating delicious, nutritious and interesting meals on limited war rations, tight budgets, and victory garden harvests.

Cookbooks in the shop tell intimate stories not only of their authors but also their owners too. This 1931 edition of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book showcases the enduring legacy of Fannie Farmer (1857-1915), who not only raised generations of home cooks but shared recipes that still inform regional New England cuisine today. It also highlights, through a myriad of cooking splatters and stains, the adventures of a previous cook (or cooks) who cherished the recipes so much their culinary endeavors have turned into an artful aesthetic.

Also every year, there’s one stand out cook, who warrants days or sometimes even weeks of research thanks to a fascinating life lived. This year, it was Lois Burpee (1912-1984)…

who married into the Burpee Seed Company family in the 1930s and managed to carve out an incredible cooking, gardening, and philanthropic career that lasted her entire lifetime.

Other equally interesting cookbooks in the shop sale this year include two rare compendiums of culinary curiosity that offer suggestions on what to make and what to bake every day for a year…

Decorative pieces in this year’s sale highlight the handmade arts. An antique tole tray, a vintage hand-carved wooden swan, a vintage print of a tulip painting dating all the way back to 1827, a hand-embroidered linen…

These are just a few examples of the people, places, and stories that have found their way into the Vintage Kitchen shop in 2025. I hope at this year’s sale you discover an heirloom that captivates your attention, that steals your heart away to another time or another country, and that inspires new creativity from history’s forgotten muses.

At this year’s sale, just like last year’s, you’ll notice that some heirlooms sport a festive yellow banner in their listing photos. Those banners signify a donation program that we launched in 2024. Any heirloom that you see in the shop that says This Heirloom Gives Back qualifies for a 20% donation to Feeding America, a nationwide non-profit network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs dedicated to providing nutritious meals to food-insecure communities around the United States. Not all heirlooms in the shop qualify for this program, so be sure to look for the yellow banners if you would like to participate.

The sale begins at 12:00am (EST) on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025 and runs through 11:59pm that same night. Discounts are automatically tallied upon checkout, so there is no need to enter any coupon codes or discount phrases to receive 40% off.

New heirlooms continue to be added to the shop daily, so stop by for fresh vintage and antique finds leading all the way up to the sale. And, as always, if you are looking for something that we no longer have in stock, please send us a message. We’ll be happy to add your name and needs to our waitlist.

Whether you are interested in experimenting with a new cuisine, looking for a new favorite vintage dish pattern, or starting a collection that recalls memories of a happy time from your past, I hope you find something in the shop that calls to your heart and adds extra delight to your kitchen.

Cheers to all the old souls that inspire the shop each and every day. Cheers to all the heirlooms that they have been passed on to us to love and cherish just as much. And cheers to the kitchen for being the one spot in the house where everyone is always welcome.

The English philosopher, A.C. Grayling, recently said “To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.”

Ms. Jeannie could not agree more! While re-reading Wuthering Heights a few months ago, Ms. Jeannie got to thinking about vintage books and how their stories, while old in years are often times, not old in spirit. They are just more settled and sometimes overlooked by their shinier, more alluring contemporaries. But Ms. Jeannie aspires to shake these vintage stories up again – to churn their waters of words and wisdom, of history and social commentary, of status and symbolism. So it is with that in mind, that Ms. Jeannie is thrilled to announce the launch of her new Vintage Book of the Month Club!

The book club operates on subscription basis, with a choice of either six months or one year. And there are a few categories available: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children’s books. The former broken down further into “him”and “her” categories and the latter into “boys” and “girls” categories. That way if you were giving the book club subscription as a gift you could personalize it with the types of books the recipient likes to read the most.

Every month, subscribers receive one hardcover vintage book in the mail. Written or copyrighted before 1970, each book arrives gift wrapped. A card detailing the history behind the book and/or author is also included along with a bookplate that bares the recipient’s name. This is a what the bookplate looks like…

When Ms. Jeannie designed the bookplate, she went with an Art Deco theme since that is one of her favorite periods in history. The soaring antelope-type deer reminded Ms. Jeannie of the soaring feeling a good story can give you.

It also reminded Ms. Jeannie of the time that she was picking blackberries from a hedgerow in Pennsylvania. It was a lovely lazy grey, green day. Storm clouds were just working there way into the landscape and the birds were singing their hearts out. The blackberries that year, were the biggest Ms. Jeannie had ever seen. The bushes, equally girthy, had grown together and formed an alley of a row that seemed as long as a mile and as tall as a giant. Full, heavy berries dangled feet above Ms. Jeannie’s head taunting her ability to reach them.

But Ms. Jeannie had more than enough supply at eye-level, so she got to work with intentions to gather enough for a pie and then possibly some tarts for her neighbor. Within 30 minutes, she had pickd an entire bucket full and was working on a second, when all of a sudden, a dark shadow passed fast overhead. Ms. Jeannie looked up in time to see a furry, white belly sailing through the sky. As she watched the arc of the belly go from front to back, she saw it land, noiselessly behind her and bound off into the woods.

Do you you know what this mysterious flying creature was? A deer! Most likely spooked by something in a neighboring yard this deer was on the run, saw the hedgerow and thought “yeah – I can clear that,” and up and over she went. Ms. Jeannie was awe-struck. It was a magical and dangerous moment. If Ms. Jeannie had been standing just a few inches further back than she was, the deer would have landed right on top of her.

To have the whole scene play out without a single noise (except for the birds) was stunning and surprising. You’d like to think you could hear such a commotion coming. The event was marvelous and left Ms. Jeannie a bit giddy with excitement to tell Mr. Jeannie all about the day a deer flew through the sky like a bird. Looking in on the scene – you’d have seen a woman among a batch of berry bushes, but stick around and invest a few minutes of time there, and eventually you’d have seen a bit of magic. Isn’t that just the epitome of a good book? At the start you think, “oh this is a nice pattern of words” and then without warning those nice little words pull you into the storyline in one effortless swoop and carry your imagination away.

That’s just the effect Ms. Jeannie is hoping for with her vintage book of the month club. As for the types of vintage books that one might receive, the field will be varied. Non-fiction readers could expect a variety of topics including biographies and memoirs (can you ever really get enough information about Ernest Hemingway?!), books about nature, cooking or history. Fiction readers could expect vintage editions of classic literature from Henry James or Mark Twain, tales of romance complete with gorgeous retro dust jackets or a vintage suspense novel or a book of poetry.

The fun part of an “of the month” club is the surprise element behind each package and the appreciation of the item in form, content and appearance. So just like when you participate in the jam of the month club, or the wine of the month club or the coffee of the month club – you come away just a little bit more enlightened about the subtle differences of a singular subject. Each of the vintage books in Ms. Jeannie’s club, will be of good quality and will be hand-picked for its story, presentation and/or subject matter.

The children’s book option includes a variety of board books and picture books, tall tales, nursery rhymes, and early education materials. Ms. Jeannie thinks that this subscription would make a really fun gift for a baby shower or a new mom. The little one’s library would grow bigger and bigger, month by month, just like them, and hopefully they would become the building blocks for a new generation of readers altogether.

So that’s the book club in a nutshell. Fun for gift-giving or fun for yourself, Ms. Jeannie’s Vintage Book of the Month Club looks forward to entertaining a dynamic group of readers. If you’d like to sign up for a six month subscription, you can do so here. Or if you prefer a one year subscription, you can sign up here.