Old cookbooks – free to read/download

[teonzo]

There are lots of old cookbooks that have been digitized by various people (libraries, Project Gutenberg, Google...) and are free to read and download. The problem is getting to know about their existence. I'll try to post the ones I saved. If you know books that are missing in this list then please reply with the links, so I'll edit this post and add them, thanks.

 

 

 

Acton Eliza - Modern Cookery for Private Families
1847
https://archive.org/details/moderncookeryfo01actogoog/page/n8

 

Acton Eliza - The English Bread Book for Domestic Use
1857
https://archive.org/details/englishbreadboo00actogoog

 

Anonimo - Il confetturiere piemontese che insegna la maniera di confettare frutti in diverse maniere
1790
https://archive.org/details/b28766672/page/n4

 

Beeton Isabella - The Book of Household Management
1861
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10136

 

Bradley Richard - The Country Housewife and Lady's Director
1728
https://archive.org/details/countryhousewife00brad

 

Brown Susan Anna - The Book of Forty Puddings
1882
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn6gyz&view=1up&seq=1

 

Careme Marie-Antoine - Le Patissier Royal Parisien
1815
https://archive.org/details/b21504672_0002/

 

Careme Marie-Antoine - Le Patissier Pittoresque
1815
https://archive.org/details/b21525419/

 

Careme Marie-Antoine - Le Maitre d'Hotel Francais
1822
https://archive.org/details/b2152600x_0001
https://archive.org/details/b2152600x_0002

 

Careme Marie-Antoine - Le Cuisinier Parisien
1828
https://archive.org/details/b29300125

 

Careme Marie-Antoine - L'Art de la Cuisine Francaise au XIX Siecle
1833
https://archive.org/details/b21525687_0003
https://archive.org/details/b21525687_0004

 

Carey Henry - A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling
1727
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28105

 

Colmenero de Ledesma Antonio - Chocolate An Indian Drinke
1652
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21271

 

De La Varenne Francois Pierre - Le Cuisinier Francois
1651
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YpIorAokVqUC

 

De Salis Harriet Ann - Puddings and Pastry a la Mode
1889
https://archive.org/details/puddingspastry00desa

 

De Voe Thomas Farrington - The Market Assistant
1867
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Market_Assistant.html?id=2z4EAAAAYAAJ

 

Dumas Alexandre - Le grand dictionnaire de cuisine
1873
https://archive.org/details/legranddictionn00dumagoog

 

Escoffier Auguste - Le Guide Culinaire
1902
https://archive.org/details/b21525730

 

Escoffier Auguste - A guide to modern cookery
1902
https://archive.org/details/cu31924000610117

 

Fisk + Ellenberger - An ice cream laboratory guide
1917
https://archive.org/details/icecreamlaborato00fisk

 

Gill Thompson - The complete practical pastry cook
1889
https://archive.org/details/completepractica00gill/page/n4

 

Glasse Hannah - The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy
1796
https://archive.org/details/TheArtOfCookery

 

Gouffe Jules - Le livre de cuisine
1807
https://archive.org/details/b21525778

 

Griswold Ruth Mary -  Experimental Study of Foods
1962
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001043252

 

Hall Mary Elizabeth - Candy-Making Revolutionized Confectionery from Vegetables
1912
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33974

 

Kidder Edward - Receipts of Pastry & Cookery For the Use of His Scholars
1720
https://www.loc.gov/item/44028152/

 

Lamb Patrick - Royal cookery The complete court-cook
1710
https://www.loc.gov/item/44025907/

 

Lowe Belle - Experimental Cookery From the Chemical and Physical Standpoint
1932
https://archive.org/details/experimentalcook00lowerich

 

Maestro Martino da Como - The art of cooking
1480
https://www.academia.edu/15168285/Maestro_Martino_of_Como_The_art_of_cooking_-_the_first_modern_cookery_book

 

Marinetti Filippo Tommaso - La cucina futurista
1932
https://www.mori.bz.it/gastronomia/Marinetti - Cucina futurista.pdf

 

Murrey Thomas - Puddings and Dainty Desserts
1886
https://archive.org/details/puddingsdaintyde00murr_0

 

Nostradamus - Traite des Fardements et Confitures
1556
https://www.oldcook.com/doc/livre_nostradamus_confitures.pdf

 

Nott John - The Cook's and Confectioner's Dictionary
1723
https://archive.org/details/cooksandconfect00nottgoog

 

Nutt Fredrick - The Complete Confectioner
1819
https://archive.org/details/completeconfecti07nutt

 

Parloa Maria - Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes
1780
https://archive.org/details/chocolaterecipes_1403_librivox

 

Pease Martin - Candy Making Secrets
1908
https://archive.org/details/candymakingsecre00peas/page/n2

 

Rabisha William - The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected
1673
https://www.loc.gov/item/44028918/

 

Rundell Maria Eliza - A New System of Domestic Cookery
1806
https://archive.org/details/newsystemofdomes01rund

 

Scappi Bartolomeo - Opera
1570
https://archive.org/details/operavenetiascap00scap

 

Sherwood Snyder - The Art of Candy Making Fully Explained
1915
https://archive.org/details/TheArtOfCandyMakingFullyExplained

 

Simmons Amelia - American Cookery
1796
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12815

 

Skuse E - Skuse's Complete Confectioner
1894
https://archive.org/details/b28048465

 

Taillevent - Le Viandier
1486
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26567

 

Terhune Herrick Christine - Candy Making in the Home
1914
https://archive.org/details/candymakinginho00herrgoog/page/n8

 

Walsh J H - The English Cookery Book
1810
https://archive.org/details/englishcookeryb00bookgoog

 

 

 

Teo

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by teonzo
added 1 book (log)

[blue_dolphin]

On a recent episode of Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold described this book as the On Food and Cooking" of its time so it's not strictly a cookbook but I've been enjoying dipping into it.

The Market Assistant: Containing a Brief Description of Every Article of Human Food Sold in the Public Markets of the Cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn; Including the Various Domestic and Wild Animals, Poultry, Game, Fish, Vegetables, Fruits &c., &c. with Many Curious Incidents and Anecdotes.

It's by Thomas Farrington De Voe, originally published in 1867

and is available in various places including Google books: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Market_Assistant.html?id=2z4EAAAAYAAJ 

 

Edited to add:  If you want to listen to Dave's ramblings on The Market Assistant, it begins a little over 47 minutes in to this episode (titled There's Still DNA in that Glove, air date 2July2019) of the Cooking Issues podcast

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by blue_dolphin
to add podcast link (log)

[Vapre]

11 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

On a recent episode of Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold described this book as the On Food and Cooking" of its time so it's not strictly a cookbook but I've been enjoying dipping into it.

The Market Assistant: Containing a Brief Description of Every Article of Human Food Sold in the Public Markets of the Cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn; Including the Various Domestic and Wild Animals, Poultry, Game, Fish, Vegetables, Fruits &c., &c. with Many Curious Incidents and Anecdotes.

It's by Thomas Farrington De Voe, originally published in 1867

and is available in various places including Google books: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Market_Assistant.html?id=2z4EAAAAYAAJ 

 

His description of this book is definitely worth a listen. It was on my to-do to seek it out. Thanks for saving me the trouble!

[teonzo]

15 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

It's by Thomas Farrington De Voe, originally published in 1867

and is available in various places including Google books: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Market_Assistant.html?id=2z4EAAAAYAAJ 

 

Thanks a lot! Added to the list.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, Vapre said:

His description of this book is definitely worth a listen. It was on my to-do to seek it out. Thanks for saving me the trouble!

 

I agree.  I edited my above post to include a link to that episode of the podcast.  The segment on the book starts a little past the 47 minute mark.

[Porthos]

Okay,  I feel stupid.  I've downloaded a kindle version of a book but I don't how to get my kindle reader (Amazon) to recognize it.

[andiesenji]

I have Eliza Acton's English Bread Book for Domestic Use (and by "Domestic" she means a cook, a servant) first edition from 1857.

I also have a facsimile copy for use that I got from Acanthus Books probably 25 years ago.

I scanned the Henri Charpentier book, First Edition from the 1940s, ("Food and Finesse a Bride's Bible") for an onlne service years ago. I was still working but my boss was away for a month, all the nurses were on vacations and I was bored.

He was the "inventor" of Crepes Suzette and the book has some interesting recipes. 

Charpentier moved to Redondo Beach in the late 1940s and my ex-husband's mother met him around 1950, they had owned a summer home there since the '20s and lived two houses from his home and restaurant. My ex, then just a friend, took me there for my birthday in 1961 and it was a memorable meal for an amazing price - I think it was less than $10. each and we had lobster, medallions of veal, small portions but several courses. It was a tiny place, probably a total of 10 tables and full and I was told it took two years to get a reservation.

Sadly he died a few months later.

I had never heard of him before that, had no idea that the funny, talkative, friendly old man was world famous. I found a copy of the book he had written about 15 years earlier at a used book store and that was part of the beginning of my collecting cookbooks.

Edited July 21, 2019 by andiesenji
Correcting the date of the Eliza Acton bread book (1857) (log)

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

Okay,  I feel stupid.  I've downloaded a kindle version of a book but I don't how to get my kindle reader (Amazon) to recognize it.

How foolish I feel now; a PM caused me to realize that I didn't provide information. I use the Amazon Kindle app on my Samsung Tablet. I did download a separate Kindle reader for now. What I can't figure out is how to (if it can be done) get the Amazon reader to find non-Amazon-purchased kindle books.

 

@TdeV Thank you for your help. 

[TdeV]

My DH and I are arguing about whether you have a Kindle and a tablet, or whether you have only a Kindle app on your tablet.

Do you know where the book is on the tablet? (i.e. can you see the file?)

 

Edited to add:  What model Samsung?

Edited July 20, 2019 by TdeV
Clarity (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I thought all Kindle books had to be downloaded from amazon.  This true even of the Kindle books available to borrow from our library.

 

[Anna N]

25 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I thought all Kindle books had to be downloaded from amazon.  This true even of the Kindle books available to borrow from our library.

 

 That’s what I thought, too. There are e-books and there are Kindle books.  All Kindle books are e-books but all e-books are not Kindle books, as I understand it.  

Edited July 20, 2019 by Anna N
Typo (log)

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

My DH and I are arguing about whether you have a Kindle and a tablet, or whether you have only a Kindle app on your tablet.

Do you know where the book is on the tablet? (i.e. can you see the file?)

 

Edited to add:  What model Samsung?

 

App on my Samsung tablet  Galaxy Tab S2.

 

ETA yes I can see the file.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Porthos (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 minutes ago, Porthos said:

App on my Samsung tablet  Galaxy Tab S2.

 

ETA yes I can see the file.

 

 

You can see the file in your Kindle app?

 

[Porthos]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

You can see the file in your Kindle app?

 

Not in the Amazon Kindle app.

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I thought all Kindle books had to be downloaded from amazon.

 

My Kindle has hundreds of books on it and I've never bought anything from Amazon.

 

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Porthos said:

ETA yes I can see the file.

 

What format is it in? Kindle requires MOBI format. It won't read anything else. Many e-books are published in EPUB format. These can be converted using the free download program Calibre.

 

Calibre is also a very useful tool for uploading and organising e-books on your device.

Edited July 21, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[teonzo]

14 hours ago, andiesenji said:

I have Eliza Acton's English Bread Book for Domestic Use (and by "Domestic" she means a cook, a servant) first edition from the mid 1950s.

 

Added, thanks!

 

 

 

14 hours ago, andiesenji said:

I scanned the Henri Charpentier book, First Edition from the 1940s, ("Food and Finesse a Bride's Bible") for an onlne service years ago. I was still working but my boss was away for a month, all the nurses were on vacations and I was bored.

 

Do you have a working link for this, please? I searched a bit with google (not that much I must say, a couple minutes) and found nothing. Thanks!

 

 

 

Teo

 

[TdeV]

@Porthos, I am sending instructions privately.

[liuzhou]

5 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@Porthos, I am sending instructions privately.

 

Wouldn't it be better to share them? Other people may have the same problem.

[TdeV]

Sure @liuzhou, I didn't want to clutter the air space. Here's what I wrote to @Porthos:

 

 

I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 Android, but I don't use Amazon Kindle (I use epub, and a different method). Our test was on Kindle for PC, so these are not absolute instructions.

1. First, could you provide the entire filename of one file you are attempting to download? (File type matters) For an example: ABCDTESTONE.AZW . Further note, if the filename has any funny characters, rename the file so that it has plain characters without spaces. Don't rename the filetype.
2. What you have to discover is where the Kindle app is storing files. In Kindle for PC, that directory is listed off the Options menu. In our test, that directory is c:\Users\UserName\Documents\MyKindleContent\ .
3. Also find where Android downloaded your ebook file. Go to MyFiles app and start with the top level Download folder, but you may need to go a few folders in to find it. Look through anything that seems relevant. Other things to note: If you use Dropbox, the downloads go to a different folder (than browser downloads). If you are using USB you have to give permission for the tablet to access the device.
4. When you find out what your file is named, go to the directory named in #2 and create a new sub-directory with the first part of the filename (i.e. without the .AZW). In this test case, the new directory structure would be:
   c:\Users\UserName\Documents\MyKindleContent\ABCDTESTONE

This should make the ebook visible on Kindle.

 

 

Please note that these instructions may not work precisely for everyone,  as computer setups can be quite unique. However, if it's not working for you, let us know.

 

Edited to add: Loading ebooks in this way is called "Sideloading" - which can be googled with impunity. 🤣

Edited July 21, 2019 by TdeV
Clarity (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

My Kindle has hundreds of books on it and I've never bought anything from Amazon.

 

 

Different issue entirely.  A Kindle device can read books in several different file types besides Kindle books.

[liuzhou]

5 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

A Kindle device can read books in several different file types besides Kindle books.

 

For example?

 

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Different issue entirely.

 

It was the issue you raised.

[TdeV]

@JoNorvelleWalker, it used to be that Kindle only read Kindle format. Kindle proprietary format includes filetypes azw, azw3 (called KF8), KFX, and mobi.

 

Most of the rest of the world reads epub, which Kindle didn't read (and maybe still doesn't).

 

There are ways to convert one filetype to another. May be relevant as I have heard a rumour (unvalidated) that Amazon is planning on terminating Kindles. If so, that's a different discussion!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

For example?

 

 

From the amazon site:

 

Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP through conversion; Audible audio format (AAX).