Back in 1946, when authentic Italian food was still exotic in this country, Sunset Magazine published Angelo Pellegrini’s recipe for pesto. Pellegrini's pesto recipe gave no exact amounts, just a little bit of this, a little bit of that. In June 1959, Sunset returned to pesto with a more standardized recipe, which I have reproduce here.
Many years passed after this 1959 publication and pesto sauce was still unknown by most American cooks. Fresh basil was not available in markets until the mid-1970’s. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that pesto finally came into its own, again with the help of Sunset, and has since become a favorite of chefs and home cooks alike.
http://www.thelifeofchai.com/recipe/classic-basil-pesto/