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by Kristina Duemmler, UNC Charlotte  I have always been fascinated with reading.Many people believe that reading is a static activity that does not revealimportant information about readers; but reading practices are everywhere, andthey reveal a lot about readers. This is especially true when looking at EarlyModern recipes.&#160; I recently graduated with my B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and will be a student in the M.A. Program in English there in the fall. I am a member of the English honors program. As part of the program, I am expected to conduct research and produce a thesis. When thinking about topics for my research, my mind immediately turned to readers. I looked for an area of study that had littleresearch on readers, and that is when I encountered Early Modern recipes forthe first time. As I scanned through these wonderful works that held so muchhistory, I couldn’t help but notice the many instances of marks that hinted atthe activities readers participated in. I immediately went online to look for scholarsthat had already looked at readers of recipe books. I was sure that there wouldbe a lot of research that I could study, but I was mistaken. There was littleresearch done on the practices of Early Modern recipe book readers. Thus, mythesis idea was born. I spent the rest of the semester hunched overKristine Kowalchuk’s Preserving on Paper,specifically her transcribed version of Mary Granville’s Receipt Book. I also spent a large amount of time analyzing imagesfrom the original Receipt Book (Oh,what I would have given to be able to go to the Folger’s Library and look atthe text in person). Through these months of analysis, two thingsoccurred. One, I found clear areas where readers engaged with the text inmeaningful ways, and these meaningful interactions told me a lot about thereaders during the 17th and 18th centuries. Two, and almost as important as thefirst, I developed a deep respect for receipt books and for the transcriptionand preservation of these texts. Now, after my long-winded explanation, I willshare the fun and fascinating things I found within Mary Granville's Receipt Book. Stains The stains that occurred within the Granvilleproject were the first things I noticed when looking at the manuscript. Thesebeautiful little mistakes can tell a lot about the reader and about the textitself. Granville, Mary, D’Ewes, Anne.“Receipt Book.” The Granville Project, FolgerShakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Pages 18 and 25Thestain that is pictured above appears on page 18. The spot is directly on top ofthe writing. Since the stain appears on top of the writing, I speculate thatthe stain occurred after the writing of this recipe. Thus, it might haveoccurred during the reading of the recipe and might have been caused by thereader. Ifmy assumptions are correct, that would place the recipe book within theconfines of the kitchen. It would also suggest that this was not a text thatwas read leisurely. Instead, this text was used and practiced. The recipes wereread and then acted out. AnnotationsAnnotationsare another part of recipe books that interested me. Annotations can tell us alot about the readers intentions. I could say a lot about annotations, but I amshort on words. So instead I will focus on corrections made to the text. Granville, Mary, D’Ewes, Anne.“Receipt Book.” The Granville Project, FolgerShakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Page 165.The recipe for making spanish pap has been edited. The original recipecalled for two yolks of eggs; however, the two has been written over with afour. This annotation occurs in a different hand from the author, so I amguessing that it was the reader who made the correction. If it was in fact the reader making this correction, then it shows usthat the reader used this recipe and made improvements to the recipe to suither needs. This is important because it shows that the readers were activereaders that individualized the text. As Elaine Leong argues in her article, Collecting Knowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and PracticalKnowledge in the Early Modern English Household, readers of receipt bookshad “a desire to personalize and adapt these collections to one’s ownrequirements” (Leong).ManiculesLast,but certainly not least, I looked at manicules. Manicules are fascinating and,once again, show the practices that readers participated in. Granville, Mary, D’Ewes, Anne.“Receipt Book.” The Granville Project, FolgerShakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Page 102.Onceagain, here is a moment where the reader is interacting with the text. Thismanicule is pointing out a particular recipe of interest. The reader could bemarking the recipe to show that it was tried and successful, or the readercould be marking the recipe so that he or she could quickly find the recipeagain in the future.One interesting note about the manicule is the unique andindividualized nature of them. While manicules share some basic features, likea pointing finger, their appearance is extremely distinctive. Distinctmanicules were a way for the reader to make the text meaningful and their own.Readers created manicules, not only to point to important passages, but to alsoshare in the making of texts. They wanted to create a text that was specific totheir needs. The readers created a text that was individual and unique.Ifmy findings are correct, then it suggests that the readers of recipe books wereactive readers that engaged with the manuscripts in meaningful ways. Readersalso individualized the text to suit their specific needs.&#160; Afterconducting my research, I was pleased with my findings and with the time Ispent analyzing the Granville receipt book. I look forward to future research Imay conduct involving recipe books.Resources:Leong, Elaine. CollectingKnowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and Practical Knowledge in the EarlyModern English Household. Centaurus, 2013 Granville,Mary, D’Ewes, Anne. “Receipt Book.” TheGranville Project, Folger Shakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Pages 18 and 25Granville,Mary, D’Ewes, Anne. “Receipt Book.” TheGranville Project, Folger Shakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Page 165.Granville,Mary, D’Ewes, Anne. “Receipt Book.” TheGranville Project, Folger Shakespeare Library. V.a. 430. Page 102.