First in our hearts, first in sponge-cake
The Ellsworth, Maine American tells us that the first recorded mention of sponge-cake is in a letter written by Jane Austen in 1808.
No one seems to know exactly when sponge cakes first appeared on the dessert table — the first mention recorded was in a letter written by Jane Austen in 1808 (and yes — she liked them).
The full quote, if anyone is interested, is: “You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me.”
August 25th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
Interesting! The Oxford English Dictionary Has Jane Austen as the first recorded user of 46 words. They include:
baseball
door-bell
imaginist
in-between
itty
raffish
stylish
Here are the counts for the sources:
Letters -12 new words
S&S - 6
P&P - 0
MP - 5
Emma - 9
Persuasion - 6
NA - 6
Sanditon - 1
Watsons - 1
August 25th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
That. Is. So. Cool.
I love having a librarian around!
I might have to promote this comment to a full entry!