Once again we have a Lillian Mattingly article, this time for a recipe request service. Back in the dim and distant thirties there was no internet to log onto for a recipe or advice and although it was always possible to check out the local library there was no saying that it would have the relevant book in stock.

And so, in lieu of the internet, items such as this became popular. Send a request or a cooking problem to Ms. Mattingly at ‘Home Notes’ and, for the price of a postage stamp and an SAE (a self-addressed-envelope for those of you too disturbingly young to remember such things), she would find it for you and offer the required help and advice by return of post! (think of it as a sort of antiquated search engine)

The address, in London, is on the bottom of the article but you will notice that there is no phone number given. A phone in the home at that time was a luxury and although telephone boxs were spreading across the country, who were you going to phone unless they were waiting outside the other ‘phone box? No. Writing was far easier.