Public Domain Recipe Books

There are some wonderful public domain cookbooks freely available. You can find them at sites such as archive.org and Google Books.

Many of the World War I (and World War II) cookbooks had recipes and tips for dealing with shortages and substituting ingredients.

Here are some of the public domain cookbooks I've shared with the homeaide mailing list. For more information on the mailing list or recipes tips and tricks, see http://www.distasis.com/recipes

What's interesting about some of these cookbooks is that many of the titles are just as relevant today as when they were published. There are tried and true recipes, thrifty recipes and recipes for avoiding certain ingredients like wheat and meats.

You can use Open Source programs like
mupdf ( http://www.mupdf.com/ ),
sumatra ( http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/ ) and/or
fbreader ( http://www.fbreader.org/ )
to read them.

A Thousand Ways to Please a Family with Bettina's Best Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=F-EqAAAAYAAJ&dq=recipes+holidays&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Two Hundred and Seventy-five War-time Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=EV0EAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Tempting Dishes for Small Incomes...
http://books.google.com/books?id=f8rqTkakRhgC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Wheatless and Meatless Menus and Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y3AEAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Wheatless and Meatless Days
http://books.google.com/books?id=2v4YAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Just for Two: A Collection of Recipes Designed for Two Persons
http://books.google.com/books?id=QfopAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Recipes for Quantity Service
http://books.google.com/books?id=DmEvAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Recipes for Using Canned Goods
http://books.google.com/books?id=i5JCAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Tried and Approved Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=F3EEAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Tested Maryland Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=GwkZAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Handbook of Recipes as Used in the Course in Home Economics in Columbus Public Schools
http://books.google.com/books?id=a_opAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Our New England Family Recipes
http://books.google.com/books?id=ogkZAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

High-class Cookery Recipes: As Taught in the School
http://books.google.com/books?id=qPIHAAAAQAAJ&dq=recipes+holidays&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Twentieth Century Club War Time Cook Book
https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl0EAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&dq=twentieth+century+club+war+time+cook+book&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The New Cookery: a book of recipes, most of which are in use at the Battle Creek Sanitarium
https://books.google.com/books?id=351BAQAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&hl=en

Public Domain books from the Cookbook and Home Economics Collection at archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/cbk?and%5B%5D=public+domain

Public Domain Books

Need something to read? Here are some interesting public domain resources.

This is my list of some of the many places to look for public domain and Creative Commons books:
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/pbtc.htm#pb11

Be sure to check out Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. Find out why the Creative Commons is so important.
http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2750


Hobbies and Activities:

How to Amuse Yourself and Others: The American Girl's Handy Book
https://books.google.com/books?id=51QCAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&dq=how+to+amuse+yourself+and+others+handybook&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Young Folk's Cyclopaedia of Games and Sports
https://books.google.com/books?id=WrYUAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hoyle's Games
https://books.google.com/books?id=S88Olgb-G_oC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Games for Family Parties and Children
https://books.google.com/books?id=y0ECAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography
https://books.google.com/books?id=-hQLAAAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false


Books on Drawing:

Drawing for Young Children: Containing One Hundred and Fifty Drawing Copies, and Numerous Exercises
https://books.google.com/books?id=KGEDAAAAQAAJ

How to draw animals, birds and dogs
https://books.google.com/books?id=TDYDAAAAQAAJ&dq=drawing+animals+cats+dogs&source=gbs_navlinks_s

How to draw floral and ornamental forms, 100 studies in freehand
https://books.google.com/books?id=SzYDAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

How to draw landscapes, trees, ships, etc
https://books.google.com/books?id=TTYDAAAAQAAJ&dq=drawing%20animals%20cats%20dogs&source=gbs_similarbooks

A botanical drawing-book: or, An easy introduction to drawing flowers according to nature
https://books.google.com/books?id=TfcGAAAAQAAJ&dq=how+to+draw+flowers&source=gbs_navlinks_s


Materials on Music:

https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/4996.html


Reading Material:

Cat Poetry
https://books.google.com/books?id=7dUCAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&dq=kitten%27s+garden+of+verses&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Flatland
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Flatland

Darby O'Gill and the Good People
https://books.google.com/books?id=jUtCAAAAIAAJ&dq=hallowe%27en&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Bobbsey Twins
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1255&bih=667&tbs=bkv%3Ar&tbm=bks&ei=1B2OXqX4EYu3ggfFhoDYBQ&q=bobbsey+twins&oq=bobbsey+twins&gs_l=psy-ab.3...3638.3638.0.4272.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.k3qmTBeVPXA

Tom Swift
https://www.google.com/search?q=tom+swift&hl=en&tbm=bks&source=lnt&tbs=bkv:r&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7qvv4w9noAhXpRd8KHfSpAHIQpwUIIA&biw=1255&bih=667&dpr=1

Tarzan
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1255&bih=667&tbs=bkv%3Ar&tbm=bks&ei=IR-OXs7xIaKzgge0rZKoDg&q=tarzan&oq=tarzan&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1912.2821.0.3042.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.Oz8FMyHzYxQ

Journey to the Centre of the Earth
https://books.google.com/books?id=d9EZAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=journey+to+the+center&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIz4rnwdnoAhWQTd8KHZjBDtsQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Star Bright
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50935

Little Fuzzy
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137

Things To Do

Check out the online libraries with public domain books. Your local library may offer online books as well.
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/pbtc.htm#pb11

ACM is offering free access to their wonderful and comprehensive digital library until June 30, 2020. This is a great resource for all things programming and computer related:
https://dl.acm.org/

archive.org has set up the National Emergency Library for people to borrow books in electronic format on a wide variety of subjects:
https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

If you're having trouble reading, you can listen to books with collections like Librivox and Free Classic Audio Books.
https://librivox.org/
https://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

You can also listen to public domain radio plays. Check out archive.org or sites that specialize in pd radio plays.
http://www.oldradioworld.com/

Try out some public domain sheet music. Sing and play songs or try some Karaoke at home.
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/music.htm
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/pdmuse.htm

If you're watching TV, turn on the closed captioning so you get some reading practice as well.

There are some great Open Source educational computer games. dnb is a psychological research activity that helps improve memory. Tuxmath can help keep math skills sharp.
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/8013.html

Try some online tours using Google Cardboard, Google Expeditions or other online resources. Many museums provide an online tour at their web sites.
https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/virtual-field-trip-apps-and-websites

You can do bird watching from your own backyard or window. Identify some of the birds in your area and see how many you can find.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds
https://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/

Try baking.
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/

Keep a journal. Some writing resources are listed at:
http://www.distasis.com/write/

Gardening can be done in a yard or on your porch. You can garden from pots if you don't have any ground. Vegetables can be added to your salad or meal. Herbs can add flavor or be medicinal. Some flowers are edible and can add cheer to a meal.
https://davesgarden.com/community/

Try out some hobbies. If you program or want to learn, several Open Source projects need volunteers. Look into ham radio.

Use your arts and crafts skills to recycle household items. You can also try out projects like origami.

Help out a charity. You can help feed people and learn and play games at the same time. Help out via the freerice.com site.
https://freerice.com/categories/english-vocabulary

Exercise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqfGRx8k_zA

E-mail Pen Pals.

Meditation is a great activity and it can help you calm down, feel better and cope with not enough sleep. There are many types of meditation from visual and guided to breathing to mantra to music and walking. Biofeedback equipment is useful for some if you're have trouble getting started or concentrating. If one form of meditation doesn't work for you, try another. There are so many techniques, you're sure to find some that suit you.