# Old Cookbooks



## Lyra (Sep 15, 2009)

Has anyone else developed an interest in cookbooks that are 30+ years old? I have even run across old community cookbooks that include amazing recipes. My desire for the cooking of decades ago is bordering on an addiction.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

wah! you're making me feel old! I had a cookbook shower for my wedding--very cool idea BTW, included handwritten recipe cards from my friends--and they are getting near to 25 years old now.

I really like the Better Homes n Gardens Cookbook I have(early 80s) I also have my mother's edition of that book she got when she was married--1950's version. I like mine because it lists "real" ingredients, not time saving stuff, and the recipes are all pretty tasty. I also have my grandma's depression-era cookbook she got as a young wife and it's a hoot to read!


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## Dodgegal79 (Aug 29, 2008)

I collect them too. I have a few Betty Crockers form the 40's/50's, and some other ones. Ebay is good for them, LOL.


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## Prickle (May 9, 2009)

Absolutely! My favorites are from the 30's and 40's.


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## Colorado (Aug 19, 2005)

I have some old cookbooks . 20's 30's and few older. Want a laugh. At a book sale I saw old baking book. Fancy cakes and I saw the colored pictures and I did not stop to look farther in a big hurry to get to work. For bakery sugar 5 # and #10 of flour and all that large amounts. Sure has nice looking stuff and 1926 or 1912 some where back there. And get cook books I am not sure what things are even. I get a kick out of reading cookbooks. Some are great to read.


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## Guest (Sep 27, 2009)

Prickle said:


> Absolutely! My favorites are from the 30's and 40's.


Mine too!

Search archive.org There are downloadable cookbooks there 100, 200, and 300 years old (and everything in between). They're a hoot to read, some real weirdness by today's standards. But they also have a lot of oldtime "lost" knowledge.


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

I love old cookbooks....buy quite a few at Trades Day here locally, they are from all over the USA....I really love to read a pinch of this or that, butter the size of an egg, etc.


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

I'm about to be run out of house and home between cookbooks and other how-to books. I like the old cookbooks best. Usualy fewer ingredients and simple easy instructions that don't need every machine known to man to make the dishes. 

I, too, enjoy the on-line really old cookbooks. If I could afford the printer ink, I'd have everyone of them printed out and on my bookshelves. 

Also, I like cookbooks and recipes that are done outside a modern kitchen. Cowboy cooking, fireplace cooking, woodstoves, and alternate energy methods. It took a while, but I finally realized that a good basic recipe for xzy can be make just about anywhere with any heat source. 

Lee


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## Pamela (May 10, 2002)

I also love old cookbooks. I watch for them at thrift stores and yard sales. Can't seem to get enough of them......


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## Guest (Sep 27, 2009)

NCLee said:


> I, too, enjoy the on-line really old cookbooks. If I could afford the printer ink, I'd have everyone of them printed out and on my bookshelves.


Me too! I want to print them out sooooooooo badly!


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## dixienc (Apr 11, 2008)

Lyra said:


> Has anyone else developed an interest in cookbooks that are 30+ years old? I have even run across old community cookbooks that include amazing recipes. My desire for the cooking of decades ago is bordering on an addiction.


Yep! It's the one thing that drives everyone else in my home nuts. I started collecting them about 5 years ago from ebay, thrift stores, and yard sales. I now have over 100+ and at least a dozen of them are from the 1800's. The rest are mostly from before 1960, with a few thrown in after that. I love my cookbooks and recipes.


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## Lyra (Sep 15, 2009)

ladycat said:


> Mine too!
> 
> Search archive.org There are downloadable cookbooks there 100, 200, and 300 years old (and everything in between). They're a hoot to read, some real weirdness by today's standards. But they also have a lot of oldtime "lost" knowledge.


Thanks! I need to take a look at that website.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

dixienc said:


> Yep! It's the one thing that drives everyone else in my home nuts. I started collecting them about 5 years ago from ebay, thrift stores, and yard sales. I now have over 100+ and at least a dozen of them are from the 1800's. The rest are mostly from before 1960, with a few thrown in after that. I love my cookbooks and recipes.


Me too, except I've been collecting them for a bit longer. I have over 500 of them. Just started collecting the Victorian and Civil War era cookbooks. Also handwritten ones they are always fun to read.

1953 Betty Crocker was my first I think.


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## Lyra (Sep 15, 2009)

NCLee said:


> Also, I like cookbooks and recipes that are done outside a modern kitchen. Cowboy cooking, fireplace cooking, woodstoves, and alternate energy methods. It took a while, but I finally realized that a good basic recipe for xzy can be make just about anywhere with any heat source.
> 
> Lee


I have found that to be true with the older Amish and various living museum cookbooks. The recipes are basic but so good and can be updated for modern heat sources. Also, the books include info on old (which are new again) techniques for cooking, preserving, and growing food.


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## used2bcool13 (Sep 24, 2007)

My grandmother gave me a Betty Crocker when I got married and my favorite of all time has to be the Settlement Cookbook, great recipes.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

YES! I have been collecting them for years. I like any cookbook that has real recipes instead of "open a can" or "add a box". 

My favorites are:
The Good Housekeeping Cookbook from 1942
Farm Journals Country Cookbook from 1959
and all the fundraiser cookbooks put out by fire depts, schools, churches, etc. 

My MOST favorite is a blank page cookbook I got when I was young. I've filled it with lots of my mother & grandmothers recipes. Over the years I've added a lot of recipes I've picked up here and there and a couple I invented myself. Each divider page has an envelope page where I put the recipes mom mailed to me when I was young. Now that mom is gone, those handwritten recipes she sent really mean a lot to me. Someday they will mean a lot to one of my kids when I pass that book on to one of them.


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## culpeper (Nov 1, 2002)

Perhaps I'm showing my wrinkles here, but I don't regard 30yo cookbooks as old! 

Yes, I love the old cookbooks and have whole shelves of them. One I particularly like is the first edition of the CWA cookbook, 1936. (Country Women's Association). It's Australian, of course, but if you can find it or any subsequent version, you'll have found an absolute treasure.

You might like to check ebay for it, but meantime the latest edition can be found here.

http://www.bookworm.com.au/Book/The-CWA-Cookery-Book-and-Household-Hints-9780207180712.aspx

Any version pre-1960s or thereabouts will be in the old measurements - the latest version is in metric. Not sure about the ones in between.

I found a lot of my books at garage sales. Many of them are small publications from schools or churches sold as fund-raisers. Absolute gems!


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

One of the things that frustrates me about collecting recipes and cookbooks is when the author claims it's an old timey and I see "modern" ingredients listed. This is especially true for recipes in newspapers and magazines. It's only been in the last 10-20 years that imported ingredients have become common in the grocery stores. I'm not opposed to those, as I like to cook with new-to-me ingredients. Just don't say it was great-great grandmother's southern food, when I know she didn't have something that only appeared in local groceries 5 years ago. 

Something else along these lines that I collect are the manuals that came with appliances 30 years ago. Sometimes I see these at flea markets and such. Today's appliance manuals (blenders, crockpots, mixers, etc.) are filled with legal CYA and not much else. Years ago those manuals were chock full of recipes, tips, techniques, and just good plain ol how to info. Even though over the years I've tossed broken appliances, I've kept the manuals. Sometimes it's amazing how much useful info is in them that applies to this year's new model. Information that isn't included with that brand new xyz. 

Lee


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## dixienc (Apr 11, 2008)

NostalgicGranny said:


> Me too, except I've been collecting them for a bit longer. I have over 500 of them. Just started collecting the Victorian and Civil War era cookbooks. Also handwritten ones they are always fun to read.
> 
> 1953 Betty Crocker was my first I think.


I started with Victorian and Civil War books, glad I did have you seen the prices on those things lately? I bought a Godey's in 2002 for $20, if you can find one now they are over a $100.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

Yes I have noticed some of my 1800's cookbooks are worth a bit more than they used to be. That's always a nice thing to know your books are increasing in value.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

I love old cookbooks, because they dont call for all the convenience items I dont buy (like cream of mushroom soup, or a yellow cake mix)
My newest one was $1 at a garage sale, "Womans Home Companion Cookbook", 1942 edition, also, same sale, same price, and older (1930's) Fanny Farmer
I only like the old ones.edited to add, they sure look nicer sitting on your shelf than those irritating Rachel Ray cb's people insist on gifting me with


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't like Rachel Ray and most of the other Food Network cooks hawking their stuff. Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like "yellow cake mix" recipes. I do like American's Test Kitchen cookbooks and magazines. Must admit that I gifted the 75th anniversary edition of Joy of Cooking and put one on my bookshelf, too. 

Wish I could run on $1 versions of those cookbooks!!

Lee


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

I love these too! My favorite is a 1941 The American Woman's Cook Book published by The Culinary Institute in Chicago. It not only has recipes but tells all about measuring, useful facts about food, how to buy food, etc. Has a whole chapter on sandwiches! You know those type of sandwiches that we do not see anymore.....cream cheese and olives, peanut butter, banana, dried fruit and salad dressing, etc. They go into much detail on the proper way to set a table and how to serve the food. One of the titles is How To Entertain Without A Maid! I use it often for puddings as I like to make puddings with the old recipes. Sauces too. They were really big on that back then.

katlupe


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

I like the basic ingredients in the books, instead of those 'specialty' ingredients that you can't really find around here anyhow.


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## Yldrosie (Jan 28, 2006)

Me too! My favorite is the Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery, about 1940 or so. My grandmother gave it to me about 1970. It's pages are covered with spoon drippings from the things she liked to cook.


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## NostalgicGranny (Aug 22, 2007)

A lot of people don't like writing in their books, but I love it. It speaks volumes about the cook. Especially if they write things like skip this step, or less sugar, etc. 

Over the years I have found some pretty unusual things tucked away in my cookbooks. Flowers, four leaf clovers. When we lived north of Chicago, I bought an old cookbook that had several clipped articles about a mysterious death in the area of a prominent doctor and lawyer. I found that pretty interesting. Who would hide that in their cookbook?

Anyone else find anything interesting on their cookbooks?


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2009)

NostalgicGranny said:


> Over the years I have found some pretty unusual things tucked away in my cookbooks. Flowers, four leaf clovers. When we lived north of Chicago, I bought an old cookbook that had several clipped articles about a mysterious death in the area of a prominent doctor and lawyer. I found that pretty interesting. Who would hide that in their cookbook?
> 
> Anyone else find anything interesting on their cookbooks?


I have found hand written recipes on paper tucked into old cookbooks.

A bit off topic, but I love old schoolbooks too. I once picked up a high school text book from the late 1800's that totally cracked me up. It had belonged to a girl, and she and her friends had written notes to each other in the margins. They had talked about the teacher's big boobs and all sorts of hilarious stuff.


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## crescha (Sep 24, 2009)

I just paid three dollars for a BH&G binder, copyright 1930, twelfth printing 1935, it has all of the original insert cards and even blank cards to add recipes.


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## KathyJ (Sep 20, 2005)

love. love. love the older cookbooks. 

I would say I've developed an interest in cookbooks. period. and I blame you guys!!!
When I first joined, there was a discussion about favorite cookbooks and someone had mentioned the Modern Family Cookbook by Meta Givens as a good "from scratch" type of cookbook. That started it, along with getting my Mom's cookbooks after she died. Collecting cookbooks has snowballed from there for me! 

but since I get them at library sales and thrift stores, I figure it's cheaper than taking up drinkin'!!


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

Two of my favorite old cookbooks.

All About Home Baking copyright 1933. I have the 3rd edition 1935

The Household Searchlight Recipe Book Copyright 1931, revised 1941

Lee


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## Dandish (Feb 8, 2007)

I wouldn't necessarily endorse these recipes, but this site was pretty entertaining for a while...

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/spec.html


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

Sorry, but I didn't like the site. Didn't read much of it. Since I don't like SNL's making fun of folks, didn't like the same cheap remarks I saw here. 

However, thanks for sharing, as I may be the one out in left field with my opinion.

Lee


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