Cornbread is a main attraction on the menu at the famous Mansion on Turtle Creek restaurant in Dallas. But the technique used to make it (mixing a batter with icy cold water and a little leavening, then frying it) comes not from the latest tome on Southwestern cuisine, but from a little-known early 1900s volume called The Kentucky Cookbook. "There are so many techniques and methods that have been lost along the way," says chef Dean Fearing, the avid cookbook collector who discovered the old cornbread recipe. "The thing I love about old cookbooks is that they tell you everything, from how to get rid of ants in the kitchen to how o cure rheumatism, as well as some amazing cooking methods." Fearing, who has collected cookbooks since the early 1970s, has a collection of more than 300, including a prized copy of Oscar From the Waldorf Hotel, published in 1897, that he bought for less than $5 at a garage sale. His collection is put to good use--recipes for everything from gravy to hushpuppies have found their way from Fearing's vintage cookbooks to the tables at The Mansion on Turtle Creek. "My interest is the true old recipes that work," he says.
But chefs aren't the only ones collecting vintage cookbooks these days. In 1999 The Wall Street Journal declared, "Antique cookbooks are soaring in value, perhaps the hottest sector in the rare book field." Stores and websites specializing in collectible cookbooks have sprung up like wildflowers in the last 10 years, from Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City, which opened last year, to Cook Books by Janet Jarvits in Pasadena, which opened in 1995.
At Powell's Books for Cooks in Portland, Oregon, old or out-of-print volumes are in constant demand. "It's not unusual for us to make a fairly good portion of each day's sales on our website, and generally they want out-of-print books," says manager Susan Crittenden. Collectors run the gamut from professional chefs to people who don't cook but read cookbooks "in bed like novels," says Slotnick. Some collectors focus on a single category, such as chocolate recipes, while others collect from a single era, such as the 1930s.
Cookbooks have enormous appeal because "you feel a kinship across the centuries with those earlier cooks," says Jeffrey Thomas, owner of Jeffrey Thomas Fine & Rare Books in San Francisco. "And then there's the aesthetic appeal of a cookbook that has great illustrations. Even though you're only dishing Spam out of a can, it makes you feel as though you're at the palace table."
Collectible cookbooks include rare and expensive books such as American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons, the first American cookbook ever published (in 1796), which could sell at auction for $10,000 today; not-so-old but nostalgic cookbooks, such as various editions of Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, first published in 1950, which sell for $100 or more; and even fairly recent but now out-of-print books, such as Jacques Pepin's La Methode, published in 1979 and now on the web for as much as $285.
What's Collectible?
One reason many cookbooks are in demand is simply that they're so hard to find, especially in good condition. Where many people will sell or give away collections of literature, nonfiction and other genres, "cookbook people just seem to hang on to their stuff," says Crittenden. And since cookbooks are meant to be used in the kitchen, it can be difficult to find one without gravy stains, dog-eared pages and a flattened spine.
At the top of the price list in collectible cookbooks are very old, very rare volumes that offer not just recipes, but a glimpse into how life was lived decades ago. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Hannah Glasse, for instance, originally published in England in 1747, highlights English specialties such as roasts, loins, sauces and preserved fruits.
Later American editions of the book include "several new receipts adapted to the American mode of cooking," such as Indian pudding, pumpkin pie and maple sugar. "You see a certain form of civilization spreading itself," as the recipes change, says Jeffrey Thomas. In 1990 a rebound copy of the original 1747 edition of the book sold at auction for $5,250. "I'd say it would be worth $10,000 today," Thomas says.
One of Slotnick's favorites is Commonsense in the Household, by Marion Harland, which was first published in 1871. "The recipes alternate with essays on such subjects as poultry, bread (properly made home-baked bread vs. baker's bread), cornbread (preferences of South vs. North), the sick room, etc.," says Slotnick.
An excerpt from a recipe for fried pickerel reads: " ... I urge this with groaning of spirit, in remembrance of the many times in which I have had my sense of fitness, not to say my appetite, outraged by seeing the gallant fish brought to table fried to a crisp throughout, all his juices wasted and sweetness utterly departed--especially, do not fry him slowly and too long; and when he is done, take him out of the grease!"
Another rung on the collectible ladder includes classic 20th-century cookbooks that are now out-of-print or have been revised often. "Since World War II and the rise of the cooking culture in America there are lots of books that have become collectibles in the last 20 years," says Susan Crittenden, of Powell's Books. Some modern cookbooks have "significant value," adds Thomas, citing the 1954 Alice B. Toklas Cookbook , which includes the author's recipe for marijuana cookies (Thomas estimates the price to be $300 to $400). Various editions of The Joy of Cooking and Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book are highly prized, especially by those who grew up on say, Irma Rombauer's carrot bread and can't find the recipe in the current (1998) version of the Joy of Cooking.
"It's a nostalgia, but also there are recipes in the older versions that people really loved and you're not going to find them in contemporary cookbooks," says Crittenden. "It's like tasting memory." Even more recent books by James Beard, MFK Fisher or Julia Child are all collectibles because they're out of print. One of the most-sought after cookbooks is a book published in 1984 called Mastering the Art of French Pastry. "It's snapped up by anyone," says Jarvits. Also in demand are cookbooks for ethnic cuisines, particularly Jewish and Mexican. And while they're not quite cookbooks, promotional pamphlets published by food and appliance companies earlier in the 20th century are also hot collectibles. The yearly recipe booklets containing the recipes from The Pillsbury Bake-Off, for instance, can command $5 to $100 or more (for the rare Bake-Off #1 booklet).
Condition Counts
A book's condition is just as important in collecting cookbooks as it is in collecting other books, with a few exceptions. "In cookery, people say, 'Well, my goodness. The book was used in the kitchen, you can't expect it to be in good condition!'" says Thomas. "But the factor of condition is always very, very important." Book dealers use standard terms to describe condition ("very fine," "fine," "very good," "good") each with very specific meanings.
In some cases, less-than-perfect condition may not detract from a book's value. Thomas recently sold a cookbook published in Bombay in 1852. The book was written for English housewives living in India, then a British colony. "The book was in really good condition, except for 11 pages of handwritten recipes and cures for cholera, dropsy, distemper and mange, and recipes heavily involved with opium." That slice-of-life addition didn't detract from the book's value and may have added to it.
Where to Look
The Internet is a top source for collectors, but "buyer beware," says Slotnick. The meaning of the term "good condition" may mean one thing to a professional book dealer and something else entirely to the average Josephine listing a book for sale on eBay.
"If you'd started collecting before the Internet you would have done much better," says Slotnick. "Before, someone who had a bookstore in a small town somewhere would have no idea that a certain book was selling for $50 in New York, so you could stumble into that shop and buy it for $5. Now, collectors often scour the web and comparison shop for a certain edition, and the prices set on eBay can drive prices up even further."
Other good sources include dealers who specialize in cookbooks (find them through the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America or in books on book collecting). Thomas suggests looking through cooking magazines for ads from cookbook dealers. Book fairs, a conglomeration of groups of dealers, are "a really good place to begin," Thomas says. (Check www.book-sales-in-America.com for information on book fairs, sales and auctions around the country.) A few years ago Thomas found a prize at the California Antiquarian book fair--What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. First published in 1881, it is the first American cookbook written by an African-American. "It's scarce as can be," Thomas says. He purchased it for $300 or $400 and then immediately sold it for $1,500.
Finally, don't be afraid to simply buy what you love. "Don't buy old cookbooks as an investment," says Slotnick. "There's no point. It has to come right from your heart."
Most Collectible Cookbooks
Cookbook dealers around the country mention these books at the top of the hot collectible list:
- A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Vincent and Mary Price, published 1965. Price and his wife collected recipes from top restaurants around the world and compiled them in this volume. The book has a padded leatherette cover and is stamped with gold. "It's a very lavish object," says Slothnick. Part of the appeal is the recipes (I've heard the cheesecake and guacamole are really good," says Slothnick ), part of the appeal is Price himself. Depending on the condition and what edition of the book you find, the price can range from $80 to $200.
- Mastering the Art of French Pastry, by Bruce Healy and Paul Bugat, published in 1984. "I have at least a dozen people who want it and I can't find it," Slotnick says. It's such a great pastry book we can't keep it in stock," echoes Jarvits. A copy in good condition would sell for $50 and up.
- Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, originally published in 1950 (subsequent editions were published in 1956, 1961, 1969, 1978, 1986, 1991 and 1996). Most in demand are early versions, especially the 1950, '56, '61 and '69 ones." The recipes by current standards are too complicated, too high in fat, but people want what their mother had," says Slotnick. "There are millions of baby boomers who remember their mothers--and later themselves--cooking from that book." The currently hot editions from 1961 go for $75 to $100. "These books are hard to find in good condition because people use them to death," says Slotnick. Also hot: The 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book.
- The Joy of Cooking , by Irma Rombauer, originally published in 1931. Various editions and revisions were published in 1936, 1943, 1946, 1951, '52, '53, '62, '63 , '64, '75 and '97. A 1931 first edition may be worth $2,000 because there were only 3,000 copies printed.
- The Epicurean, by Charles Ranhofer, originally published in 1895. "It's a giant book, and it tells how to cook a lot of things we don't eat anymore, such as turtle soup, says Jarvits. In good condition, the 1895 first edition is valued at $250 to $350.
- 1,000 Ways to Please a Husband, by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron, first published in 1917. The book and subsequent sequels, like Bettina's Best Desserts, follow the domestic life of wife Bettina and husband Bob, starting just after their honeymoon. The book includes tips on organizing the pantry, how to make biscuits, etc., and can be found for around $50. The subsequent Bettina books, with beautiful color plates by Elizabeth Colborne, were published in the '20s and can range in price from $35 to $75.
