author
Mary Ronald
1844–1903
Best known for two richly detailed late-19th-century cookbooks, this American writer published under the pen name Mary Ronald while also building a reputation as a naturalist. Her books blend practical kitchen advice with a vivid sense of entertaining and everyday domestic life.
2 Audiobooks
The Century Cook Book
by Mary Ronald
Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book
by Mary Ronald
About the author
Writing as Mary Ronald, Augusta Foote Arnold published The Century Cook Book in the 1890s and later Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book. Those books helped establish her reputation with readers looking for thorough, practical guidance on American cooking and hospitality.
She was also a naturalist and wrote The Sea-Beach at Ebb-Tide, a work remembered for its close observation of marine life. Archival records from the New York Public Library note that her papers include material related to her published books and confirm that Mary Ronald was the pen name she used for her cookbooks.
Born in 1844, she is often listed in library records under the name Mary Ronald, but modern reference sources identify her as Augusta Foote Arnold. That mix of literary, domestic, and scientific interests gives her work an appealing range that still makes it interesting today.