"The Essential Ingredient", a broadside with text by M.F.K. Fisher. This broadside was one of five by various authors printed by different presses and issued as a set by Cadmus Editions in 1982. The Fisher broadside is 15"x22", designed and printed from handset type on Rives BFK (with 2 tip-ons printed on Gutenberg Laid and Mohawk Superfine) by Judyl Mudfoot at Mudborn Press in Santa Barbara. Calligraphy by Pamela Gardella. Issued in a limited edition of 100 numbered and 26 deluxe lettered copies. It is signed by Fisher, and laid into a Rives paper portfolio (24" x 18.25") with a printed label. The broadside starts with introductory text with original text by Fisher (not found elsewhere). What follows is the text from the Conclusion of her book A Cordiall Water, including two of the "receipts", both as separately printed tip-ons. One is a recipe "for a consumption" (printed in Pamela Gardella's calligraphy) that requires 30 garden snails and 30 earth worms among other ingredients. The other is a reprint of a handbill inviting all to come to the Mission of Divine Healing where you will find ... Peace, Health and Happiness". The text concludes with Fisher's explanation of where she found the two recipes.

Price: $375.00 [NP]: First Edition thus, signed, limited, one of 100 copie only, all on Rives BFK, Gutenberg Laid and Mohawk Superfine papers, signed "MFK Fisher" in black ink at top. Size: 25-15". The broadside was designed and printed from handset type by Judborn Press with calligraphy by Pamela Gardella. Part of the text is reprinted from The Cordiall Water (1982). Fisher talks about her interest in "old cures" and the broadside reproduces a handbill announcing a religious healing and an Elizabethan apothecary's remedy "for a Consumpsion". A handsome piece. ( )

Sonoma, California: Cadmus Editions, 1982. 1st Edition. Soft cover. First Edition, Limited to 100 Numbered Copies Signed by M. F. K. Fisher. 15 in. x 22 in. Designed and printed from handset type on Rives BFK, Gutenberg Laid and Mohawk Superfine by Judyl Mudfoot at Mudborn Press. Calligraphy by Pamela Gardella. An excerpt from M. F. K. Fisher's engaging, A Cordiall Water: A Garland Of Odd And Old Receipts To Assuage The Ills Of Man And Beast, collecting age-old folk remedies, "a perfect combination of superstition, instinct, and primitive knowledge", with autobiographical anecdotes from the author's life in California, Provence, Mexico and Switzerland.