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Want to weigh in on the value of a rare cookbook?

andiesenji

By andiesenji
in Cookbooks & References

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Here's a game for those who like to test their knowledge of cookbooks.  Guess how much two different book experts valued this book for.

I can tell you it really shocked me.  I know it is rare but apparently finding one with a dust jacket is extremely rare.  

 

I just received two "valuations" on a fairly rare cookbook and was shocked by both, one from an antiquarian book dealer here in SoCal who evaluates rare volumes for libraries and individuals referred by other dealers. (as I was)

The other is a retired antiquarian library specialist in New York who was one of the editors of a publications for book dealers for many years and to whom I was referred by another cookbook collector.

I found this book offered on line and the prices seemed reasonable but neither included the dust jacket.  Apparently a dust jacket in some cases is more valuable than the book itself.

Title:  EARLY CALIFORNIA HOSPITALITY

The Cookery Customs of Spanish California,

authored by Ana Bégué de Packman

This cookbook delves into the traditions of the Spanish settlers of California who followed Padre Junipero Serra as soldiers and colonists and adopted the native foods to their tables.
The author was a direct descendant of Juan Francisco Reyes and was a long time Secretary of the Historical Society of Southern California.
The dust jacket was printed on paper similar to "newsprint" and with a high acid content.  There is some foxing inside, but not as much as I have seen in other books from the 1930s (a period when many printers were using less expensive papers).
It is an interesting cookbook I found in a Pasadena book shop many years ago, sadly another book shop that is gone but for decades was a favorite of mine.
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Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

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$200.00

 

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Here's one of the listings I found online.

56c3d7debf704_ScreenShot2016-02-16at6.13

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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No Dust Jacket and the covers are faded and stained.  

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Alex

Alex

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Yes -- a first edition of a rare book w/a good condition dust jacket can be quite valuable. (I have a cousin who collects those.) I'd say $800-1000.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Close Alex.  The guy in NYC estimated it at $950 - 1200 and the SoCal guy said the condition of the book with extremely clean unfaded covers, near fine condition, only minimal "foxing" and with the DJ 95% intact, and having a strong attraction for California collectors said a retail value would be minimum $1200.00 here in California.  

He suggested I take it to the Huntington Library for certification.    

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I bought it many years ago when I was ardently collecting vintage cookbooks, in the mid '80s as I know it was prior to moving up here to Lancaster because it and some other rare oldies were in a metal footlocker to make sure they were protected.

The bookshop in Pasadena went out of business in the early '90s.  They had a huge section of cookbooks and I bought a lot from them.  I don't recall how much I paid for it but it has this notation in it, written in pencil before I got it, so it was probably not cheap.  Probably around $100.00 or so.

Only 1019 copies were printed in 1938.  The book was reprinted in 1952 or 1953 but I don't know how many of those were done.

 

 

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Edited by andiesenji (log)
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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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johnnyd

johnnyd

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My friend, Don Lindgren, and his wife Samantha, opened Rabelais Books a few years ago - dealers in rare cookbooks.  You should give him a shout.  I think Sam is known here as pastryelf but I don't think they've been around lately.

 

http://www.rabelaisbooks.com/

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"I took the habit of asking Pierre to bring me whatever looks good today and he would bring out the most wonderful things," - bleudauvergne

foodblogs: Dining Downeast I - Dining Downeast II

Portland Food Map.com

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