Antique Cookbooks

Here's a look at my collection of old cookbooks! More specifically, cookbooks from the 1930’s and earlier. The average age of a book in the collection is 106 years old.

About the Collection

The general definition of an “antique” is an item that is more than 100 years old, so most of the books in my collection are classified as antiques, rather than “vintage” which refers to an item that is at least 20 years old. Books published in this era have copyright protection that lasts for 95 years. After 95 years, the book enters the public domain and anyone can freely share its content. Because of this, I can share recipes from these books with you, and free pdf scans of many of the books are available online for free, which I will link to when available. 

I find it fascinating to read about the ingredients and methods home cooks were using 100 years ago, and these cookbooks feel like a mini time capsule. I hope that by sharing these, I can help give them new life, and that we can enjoy their insights and recipes together. I really love the format of cookbooks from this era, most are small, about the size of a novel, and look almost nothing like the cookbooks we have today. 

I have books in various conditions, some looking almost new and others whose bindings are falling off, with tattered pages, stains, and writing. I actually prefer the books that have some signs of wear, it is nice to know the book was loved and used in its time.

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How expensive/rare are these books?

While some of these books are quite rare (for example, for some titles if you tried to buy one online right now, no copies would be available) that does not necessarily mean that they are expensive. The average cost of a book in my collection is just $22. On occasion, a rare title may be listed online for hundreds of dollars, but that does not mean that the book is really worth that much. For rare titles, it's best to wait for an auction or a seller that is looking to sell the book quickly, where a book listed for $300 elsewhere may sell for $30. 

Advice for Buying Antique Cookbooks

As stated above, the list price of rare books means nothing if it's so high that no one is interested. For very rare titles that appear to be hundreds of dollars, if you wait for another one to pop up you can often snag it for significantly less. The most I have spent on any book in my collection so far is about $60. I primarily shop for these books on eBay, but I always check google for other listings before making a purchase. I have also purchased a number of my books from independent bookstores through abebooks.com and biblio.com. These sites also sell modern reprints, and often do not include pictures, so make sure you read the listing information carefully.

eBay sellers don’t always know what they have, and may mistake a reprinting for an original copy. I’ve seen a number of books from this era that have reprints from the 70’s or 80’s, which still look quite old. So make sure you do some research before you make a purchase if you’re hoping to get a book that was actually printed 100 years ago. 

More Antique Cookbooks

This online archive contains thousands of books and can be sorted by year. Books that are out of copyright can be easily viewed, newer books may require a library login.

Michigan State University has compiled this archive featuring 76 cookbooks they claim are "some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century".