Eddie Edwards writes an old cookbook and recipe blog. Along with her husband, Peter Peckham, she owns OldCookbooks.com, the largest Internet resource devoted to out-of-print cookbooks. Recently, we talked about the art of cookbook collecting.
ephemera: When did your passion for old cookbooks begin?
Edwards: My mother collected cookbooks, but I was not really interested until I became a graphic designer.
Promotional recipe booklets are valuable visual graphic reference for illustrations, style, use of type, etc. For example, the pre-1955 Wear-Ever instruction and recipe booklets by the famous aluminum pan manufacturer have appealing, stylized covers.
ephemera: I didn't know how graphically appealing cookbooks could be. Amazing. What challenges or obstacles do you encounter in finding old cookbooks?
Edwards: Cooking ephemera is not always in great condition, and often it is heavily used and soiled. While some of this is expected, it certainly doesn’t help the value. On the flip side, contrary to other types of ephemera, hand-written notes or recipes can actually enhance the value.
To overcome the wear issue, if the item is desirable enough, we will buy it, clean it, and repair it, if possible. If we can’t salvage it, we still offer it for sale at a reduced price.
ephemera: This is one area of ephemera where taking those steps makes a lot sense. What are some of your favorite cookbooks?
Edwards: Surprisingly, I’m not a cook! While I love to read cookbooks and recipes, I’m more interested in the sociological or graphic charm. My favorite cookbooks change frequently, but I’m partial to early 1900’s recipe booklets with illustrations, such as New Cake Secrets, and old advertising recipe booklets that are a sort of commentary on the status of women at the time like Husband Tested Recipes. But I also love to just read cookbooks for the fun of it. I’m always learning new things about old foods. For instance, in the 1916 Five Roses Flour Cook Book, which I read cover-to-cover, I discovered recipes for things like jam-jams, fadge, plunkets, and parkin.
ephemera: Hmmm, I love plunkets and fadge. Yummy! What’s your advice to achieving success as cookbook collector?
Edwards: Pick a subject and stick to it...your collection will be more interesting, focused, and valuable. You might decide to collect cookbooks from the region or even just the city you live in...charity cookbooks are especially good at capturing the culture and food of a region. Or you might collect cookbooks by a particular company or about a particular food. One of our customers collects anything related to Westinghouse...another collects books and pamphlets only about cakes.
ephemera: Great advice. What resources and tools do you recommend?
Edwards: Values are constantly changing, so I would not consider any of these books a guide to value. There are very few references available in the field, so you should have every one you can find.
- Cookbooks Worth Collecting
- A Guide to Collecting Cookbooks: A History of People, Companies and Cooking
- Collector's Guide To Cookbooks: Identification & Values
- Old Cook Books: An Illustrated History. A rare reference, containing a complete early history of cookbooks.
ephemera: Thanks, Eddie. Good luck with your blog and Web site.
Search Abebooks for the books listed in this interview.
