Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 3)

[FL Heat]

A friend who works for a privately-owned bookstore recently helped them shut down a used bookstore. Did I want her to send me the cookbooks? Sure thing, I responded, expecting a dozen or so books.

Nope.

I have a dozen BOXES of used cookbooks now. Some are great, some aren't, and some are fun just for the kitsch value ("To be a good hostess, it's best that you start your evening with a cocktail. When your guests see that you are relaxed, they'll be able to relax as well.". . .from a book on how to host a buffet-style cocktail hour from the 60s).

Diana

Edited to say: I'll happily send a few your way, Judi, let me get through them and you'll probably find a box on your doorstep!

Edited August 19, 2004 by FL Heat (log)

[chefgy]

we have about 70 plus about 313 cooking magazines

[Suzanne F]

Vacations are lethal: I came back with 35 more. Including quite a few Time-Life Foods of the World (some hardcover, some recipe booklets); some Canadian; some food lit and old college textbooks; almost all used, so they're nice and cosy.

OMG, where am I gonna put them????

[snowangel]

Just received from my sister as a belated birthday gift: The Chese Board Collective Works. She lives just a few short blocks from The Cheese Board (lucky her!).

Judi, I'll check my shelves, and I stop at least weekly at halfprice books. Keep us posted on what you receive, please.

[patti]

Put me down for 78. Yesterday the mail brought 4 new (to me) cookbooks, purchased through eBay. Three of them are by Julia (bought July 31st, before her death), The Way to Cook, Julia Child & Company, Julia Child & More Company. I look forward to using and perusing them.

Other recent eBay cookbook purchases:

Paula Wolfert - World of Food

Elizabeth David - five book paperback set including French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking, Italian Food, French Provincial Cooking, and Mediterranean Foods

Better Homes & Gardens, 1971 (purchased for sentimental reasons)

[Dejah]

Judi,

Is there any particular cuisine you are interested in? Give me some idea of your interest so I can send something appropriate?

Dejah

[Alex]

Two more:

Classical Southern Cooking, Damon Lee Fowler

Out of print, but I really wanted it.

The Artist's Table, A Cookbook by Master Chefs Inspired by Paintings in the National Gallery of Art

This is a fun book — great art, with great recipes by Bayless, Child, Cunningham, Madison, Miliken & Feniger, de'Medici, Robuchon & Wells, Silverton, Tower, Waters, and Wolfert. It's available for a song through Amazon's booksellers.

[Squeat Mungry]

Classical Southern Cooking, Damon Lee Fowler

Out of print, but I really wanted it.

Oh MAN, I want this book! Do you mind saying where you found it, and how much (yikes!) you had to pay for it?

Thanks,

Squeat

[Alex]

Classical Southern Cooking, Damon Lee Fowler

Out of print, but I really wanted it.

Oh MAN, I want this book! Do you mind saying where you found it, and how much (yikes!) you had to pay for it?

Thanks,

Squeat

Well, I really shouldn't say, but, um...dark alley....midnight...unmarked bills....

Or, eBay, $76 (+ shipping). Earlier this year I made it one of my Favorite Searches, with e-mail notification. I entered the $76 proxy bid four days before the auction's end, and fortunately it held up. Someone else wanted it, too, but ended his/her bidding a few hours before the end at $75 (whew!).

There's one available right now from alibris, through Amazon, for 99.80 + shipping.

[balmagowry]

Judi, Is there any particular cuisine you are interested in?  Give me some idea of your interest so I can send something appropriate?

Just what I was wondering. I was over at the other house this evening and made a note of the duplicates and there are more than I thought - some 30 or so - but it's a pretty eclectic mix, and it seems silly to try to choose for you - Murphy's Law is almost bound to rear its ugly head. Give us a feel for your proclivities, and I bet I'll have a nice batch of goodies for you.

Meanwhile, Spies, Black Ties, & Mango Pies has just arrived - pristine 2nd-hand copy via ABE - so that's one more for my tally, please, Maggie; and log another salute going out to Julia.

[balmagowry]

The Artist's Table, A Cookbook by Master Chefs Inspired by Paintings in the National Gallery of Art

This is a fun book — great art, with great recipes by Bayless, Child, Cunningham, Madison, Miliken & Feniger, de'Medici, Robuchon & Wells, Silverton, Tower, Waters, and Wolfert. It's available for a song through Amazon's booksellers.

I have Gillian Riley's book along similar lines - A Feast for the Eyes, based on the, um, other National Gallery, and very accurately titled.

[judiu]

OK, I guess I better just throw this into the general mix, here. I most enjoy books about food, with recipes. I love American Food (yes, even the old silly Jell-o stuff from the 50's) I like books about herbs & spices for cooking and medicinal, etc. uses. I had just received David Rosengarten's new book about 2 days before the fire and never got to read it! Lots of books in the collection were regional Junior League stuff, the Southern Living Annuals, several other Southern Living books and various church, Ladies Society, Fire Department etc. publications. Food is so much fun to read about and play with!

We just got into our new home (it's a rental that my insurance is covering) yesterday, so the first big shop is set for Saturday, when I get to stock up the cabinets! Whee (I think...)

[Toliver]

Classical Southern Cooking, Damon Lee Fowler

Out of print, but I really wanted it.

Oh MAN, I want this book! Do you mind saying where you found it, and how much (yikes!) you had to pay for it?

Thanks,

Squeat

Well, I really shouldn't say, but, um...dark alley....midnight...unmarked bills....

Or, eBay, $76 (+ shipping). Earlier this year I made it one of my Favorite Searches, with e-mail notification. I entered the $76 proxy bid four days before the auction's end, and fortunately it held up. Someone else wanted it, too, but ended his/her bidding a few hours before the end at $75 (whew!).

I wonder if I was your competitor. I was outbid a while before the auction's end and I think that's what the ending price was. Hmmm.

I took solace in the fact that I immediately stumbled onto a used copy at Amazon for about $25 less than what the eBay auction sold for. I scored, to say the least.

[saskanuck]

Hi, I'm a brand new member of eGullet, but have been lurking for a while now.

I'm not sure if there is an introduce yourself thread somewhere, because I couldn't find one. If someone would be so kind as to show me where, that'd be grand.

Anyway, to keep on topic, I have at least 50 - 60 cookbooks at last count, not including the books written by Jeffrey Steingarten and Michael Ruhlman. I have my late mom's old handwritten cookbooks and some very old vintage cookbooks of hers that date back to the 1940's. They are more precious than gold to me.

Edited August 20, 2004 by saskanuck (log)

[Suzanne F]

Welcome saskanuck! We definitely count non-recipe books, especially by those two (whom we love dearly!) And you are lucky indeed to have your mom's stuff.

Member Bios have a thread here in "The Pantry." It's not obligatory; in our posts we all reveal far more of ourselves than we think we do, anyway.

Edited August 20, 2004 by Suzanne F (log)

[balmagowry]

Welcome saskanuck! We definitely count non-recipe books, especially by those two (whom we love dearly!) And you are lucky indeed to have your mom's stuff. 

Member Bios have a thread here in "The Pantry."  It's not obligatory; in our posts we all reveal far more of ourselves than we think we do, anyway. 

Welcome to eGullet! but you won't be able to post a Member Bio, or to read them, just yet - that's one advantage of posting instead of lurking, because it's only after you've posted 20 times (I think it is) that they let you into that part of the Pantry. Meanwhile, what you just did is exactly how most of us got started: jump right in and post, then sit back and watch the welcome messages pouring in on whichever thread you started with. Introducing yourself here with your treasures more precious than gold (and how right you are about that!) is an auspicious beginning.

Then again, I beg to differ with Suzanne on one point; some of us are perfectly aware of how much we reveal in our posts!

Edited August 20, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[balmagowry]

OK, I guess I better just throw this into the general mix, here. I most enjoy books about food, with recipes. I love American Food (yes, even the old silly Jell-o stuff from the 50's) I like books about herbs & spices for cooking and medicinal, etc. uses. I had just received David Rosengarten's new book about 2 days before the fire and never got to read it! Lots of books in the collection were regional Junior League stuff, the Southern Living Annuals, several other Southern Living books and various church, Ladies Society, Fire Department etc. publications. Food is so much fun to read about and play with!

We just got into our new home (it's a rental that my insurance is covering) yesterday, so the first big shop is set for Saturday, when I get to stock up the cabinets! Whee (I think...)

Whee, definitely. A positive move, always good after an awful experience.

Getting back to the book tastes - any interest by any chance in more "furrin" stuff? French, Chinese, Italian?

[judiu]

OooooH, yes please! I lost my Craig Clairborne/Virginia ( ) (erm, yeah, her) a Joyce Chen; a number of "cooks' problem solvers" that had hints,tips,conversion tables,etc. I love French country food, not really into "haute cusine" ; didn't have but would enjoy books on Spanish foods like tapas,etc. Mexican doesn't thrill me, but maybe that's because I'm not familiar with it. German is good; I lost a copy of George Lang's Hungarian Cusine (?) Pardon the senior moments here, folks; I tend to have a Swiss-Cheese memory at the best of times!

I also lost my Settlement Cookbook, my various Bert Greene books, my "Making of a Chef" my Larousse Gastronomique, what Julia I had amassed, my James Beard, and those are just the ones I can think of now!

Edited because I have a bad case of C.R.S!

Edited August 20, 2004 by judiu (log)

[balmagowry]

OooooH, yes please!  I lost my Craig Clairborne/Virginia ( ) (erm,  yeah, her) a Joyce Chen; a number of "cooks' problem solvers" that had hints,tips,conversion tables,etc. I love French country food, not really into "haute cusine" ; didn't have but would enjoy books on Spanish foods like tapas,etc. Mexican doesn't thrill me, but maybe that's because I'm not familiar with it. German is good; I lost a copy of George Lang's Hungarian Cusine (?) Pardon the senior moments here, folks; I tend to have a Swiss-Cheese memory at the best of times!

I also lost my Settlement Cookbook, my various Bert Greene books, my "Making of a Chef" my Larousse Gastronomique, what Julia I had amassed, my James Beard, and those are just the ones I can think of now!

That would be Virginia Lee. Good, I have that one for you; also the Settlement Cookbook, the New James Beard and Beard on Pasta, Julia's The French Chef Cookbook, Ada Boni's Talismano della Felicita, Hillman's The Cook's Book, Corriher's Cookwise, maybe some Harold McGee (not sure whether there are dupes or not), Thorne's Serious Pig, probably a Time-Life or two (I'm pretty sure at least British Isles is a duplicate), a couple of the Pierre Franey 60-minute books, and I think there's also some Dione Lucas (remember her?!) and some Elizabeth David - the Mediterranean and French stuff. Don't have Joyce Chen, but do have Gloria Bley Miller (The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook) and Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China (probably signed). And a few more esoteric odds and ends. I also have... duplicates of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes, and of Gourmet Vol I... but truth to tell I don't think I'm quite up for parting with those - the households and collections aren't being consolidated, and seems like one oughta keep a set of the baseline stuff in both places, don't you know.

So lemme know what talks to you. BTW, are we getting to the point where this discussion oughta go into PM territory? or is everyone cool with it staying in the thread?

[Dejah]

Hi, I'm a brand new member of eGullet, but have been lurking for a while now.

I'm not sure if there is an introduce yourself thread somewhere, because I couldn't find one.  If someone would be so kind as to show me where, that'd be grand.

saskanuck . . .by any chance --Saskatchewan . . . Canuck?

If so, I'm your neighbor to the east.

Wherever, welcome to Egullet!

I've been trying to get a count on my collection. I had to use all my fingers and toes . . . several times over. total of 147 in this house. Not sure what's in the house out in the country.

Judi, I'm going to go through the shelves tonight and see what might be of interest to you.

[judiu]

OooooH, yes please!  I lost my Craig Clairborne/Virginia ( ) (erm,  yeah, her) a Joyce Chen; a number of "cooks' problem solvers" that had hints,tips,conversion tables,etc. I love French country food, not really into "haute cusine" ; didn't have but would enjoy books on Spanish foods like tapas,etc. Mexican doesn't thrill me, but maybe that's because I'm not familiar with it. German is good; I lost a copy of George Lang's Hungarian Cusine (?) Pardon the senior moments here, folks; I tend to have a Swiss-Cheese memory at the best of times!

I also lost my Settlement Cookbook, my various Bert Greene books, my "Making of a Chef" my Larousse Gastronomique, what Julia I had amassed, my James Beard, and those are just the ones I can think of now!

That would be Virginia Lee. Good, I have that one for you; also the Settlement Cookbook, the New James Beard and Beard on Pasta, Julia's The French Chef Cookbook, Ada Boni's Talismano della Felicita, Hillman's The Cook's Book, Corriher's Cookwise, maybe some Harold McGee (not sure whether there are dupes or not), Thorne's Serious Pig, probably a Time-Life or two (I'm pretty sure at least British Isles is a duplicate), a couple of the Pierre Franey 60-minute books, and I think there's also some Dione Lucas (remember her?!) and some Elizabeth David - the Mediterranean and French stuff. Don't have Joyce Chen, but do have Gloria Bley Miller (The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook) and Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China (probably signed). And a few more esoteric odds and ends. I also have... duplicates of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both volumes, and of Gourmet Vol I... but truth to tell I don't think I'm quite up for parting with those - the households and collections aren't being consolidated, and seems like one oughta keep a set of the baseline stuff in both places, don't you know.

So lemme know what talks to you. BTW, are we getting to the point where this discussion oughta go into PM territory? or is everyone cool with it staying in the thread?

Any of these would be received with ecstatic joy ! PLEASE DON'T break up a special collection for me; I'm the beggar at this banquet!

[patti]

Judi, would you be interested in a copy of Julia Child & More Company? I'll be happy to send one to you if you'd like.

[saskanuck]

I am indeed a Saskatchewan Canuck! Good sleuthing there.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone, and I'll have to get to posting so that I get access to everything.

I am a food lover, not a chef nor do I pretend to be, but I love to cook (and eat) so this place looks just wonderful.

I read cookbooks like novels, so looking at all the titles listed here is going to give me more fodder than I'll ever read, but that's a good thing, no?

[gariotin]

250 at least - thankfully, my oldest daughter is also in the food biz, so I pass things on to her. Anyone who has any old cheese-related books - I am interested!

Let me know.

How do you part with books from your Mom - Julia Child First Editions and the Time-Life Library of different cuisines? This is a rhetorical question - I am planning on passing these on to my daughters as a family heirloom!

[balmagowry]

Any of these would be received with ecstatic joy ! PLEASE DON'T break up a special collection for me; I'm the beggar at this banquet! 

The thing is, these books haven't been used since my mother died, nor is there any likelihood that they will be any time soon. I have my own copies, and though I do cook over there now and then, it isn't generally the kind of operation that requires books - or if it is I can always look stuff up ahead of time at home. These books shouldn't have to sit on a shelf gathering dust for the first time in their lives, they're not used to it; they should be used. You need 'em, I don't; and I hate that they're wasted where they are. Much better they should go where they're really wanted. Better for you, better for them, and therefore better for me.

How do you part with books from your Mom - Julia Child First Editions and the Time-Life Library of different cuisines?

Well, this is one way of doing it. Not that I'm parting with any major first editions, but.... Actually, what I'll probably do is keep her copies and send mine instead, and that way I don't have to confront that particular dilemma just yet.