{"id":5015,"date":"2020-03-17T09:17:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T15:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/?p=5015"},"modified":"2025-09-17T13:14:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T19:14:50","slug":"vintage-cookbooks-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/vintage-cookbooks-guide","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to American Vintage Cookbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cookbooks provide a unique peek inside kitchens<\/a> of the past. Kitchens and cooking have always been a central part of life and culture, so the historical information that can be gleaned from cookbooks is insightful and invaluable. Beyond that, they tend to be incredibly stimulating from a graphic design perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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All the retro feels from this 1950s Good Housekeeping vintage cookbook. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jennifer Krausnick of Vintage Cookbook Maven <\/a><\/span> discovered vintage cookbooks early, after finding a book from the 1870s at a garage sale when she was just 10 years old. \u201cIt had lots of traditional recipes, mostly British in origin,\u201d Krausnick says. \u201cI tried a few of the recipes, including one for molasses taffy. It came out kind of sticky, but it was so exotic to a kid! Sadly, that cookbook and I parted ways during one of my cross-country moves. I can’t remember the title, but I still have fond memories of its yellowed pages, old paper smell and all those traditional recipes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A recipe for Special Salad Dressing from a 1945 Watkins Cookbook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rachelle Markley, owner of Crooked House Books & Paper<\/a> in Portland, Oregon<\/span>, has been in the bookselling industry for almost 17 years. \u201cOne of my specialties is books by, for and about women, which naturally included cookbooks,\u201d she says. “From there it has really grown into an important specialty for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The old notes found in vintage cookbooks can be interesting and endearing. Image courtesy of VintageCookbooks4U.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shawn Underwood became interested in vintage cookbooks after seeing such a plethora of them at estate sales<\/a>. When she found that they were popular for his customers, she grew her collection and eventually opened her cookbook-specific Etsy shop, VintageCookbooks4U<\/a><\/span>. \u201cReading vintage and antique cookbooks has been quite informative,\u201d says Underwood. \u201cI’m learning about long-ago used ingredients for recipes, some of which I don’t recognize at all. I’m especially enjoying reading the notes written in the margins of the cookbooks finding old scraps of ancient recipes falling out of the cookbooks, or ‘notes to self\u2019 from the cook.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vintage Cookbooks Through the Years<\/h1>\n

\u201cCookbooks have been around for centuries,\u201d says Markley, \u201cand they have evolved over time to reflect cultural and technological changes and trends.\u201d As kitchens changed, so did cookbooks. With each fancy new kitchen addition\u2014refrigerators, iceboxes, stoves, ovens\u2014came new recipes and methods for cooking.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1930s cookbook focused on recipes that made use of a relatively new technology — the electric refrigerator. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The First American Cookbook<\/b><\/h2>\n
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American Cookery, the first American cookbook, written by Amelia Simmons and published in 1796.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Naturally, only British cookbooks were available when the colonies were initially settled. \u201cHowever, by the late 1700s, Amelia Simmons published the first true American cookbook,\u201d says Krausnick. American Cookery<\/em> was first published in 1796. \u201cIt included recipes with American ingredients, such as pumpkin and corn, and was the first cookbook to suggest serving cranberries with turkey.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vintage Cookbooks of the 1800s<\/b><\/h2>\n

Around 1800, women started writing cookbooks with recipes and other tips for housekeeping. Fannie Farmer, a cooking school director, is often credited with being the first to implement uniform measurements in recipes. Farmer self-published The Boston Cooking School Cook Book<\/em> in 1896.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Frannie Farmer, author of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, circa 1900.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rae Manchester, owner of the Etsy shop Rare Books<\/a><\/span>, has several cookbooks from the mid-1800s. \u201cThey are very different from modern cookbooks,\u201d she says. \u201cThey deal mostly with dressing game, and mainly discuss technique instead of actual ingredients and measurements.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The index of an antique cookbook from 1890 shows the technique focus of cookbooks from this era. Image courtesy of Rare Books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One very popular vintage cookbook is the 1887 original edition of The White House Cookbook<\/em>. Not to be confused with a few editions which have come out since then, the original book was written by Hugo Ziermann, who was then steward of the White House and catered to the First Family. It includes recipes, menus and housekeeping techniques of the era – all of which were quite different from today.<\/p>\n

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A 1915 copy of The White House Cookbook. Image courtesy of Rare Books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vintage Cookbooks of the Early 1900s<\/b><\/h2>\n
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A Friends’ Cook Book from 1902. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the early 1900s, cookbooks changed with the invention and availability of new kitchen technology. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWith the arrival of the electric stove and temperature control, cooks were eager to share recipes,\u201d says Manchester. \u201cWith refrigerators and freezers available around 1915, food was able to be stored. Prior to this period, people would actually eat rancid food.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1941 cookbook focused on refrigerator desserts. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vintage Cookbooks from the 1920s<\/h2>\n

The evolution of artwork seen in cookbooks provides an accurate record of the changing values of American society. \u201cIn the 1920s and earlier, food was simpler and eaters were more restrained,\u201d says Krausnick. \u201cColor lithography was used to produce delicate, dainty food images.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1920s cookbook from the New Process Stove Company of Cleveland, Ohio, focuses on temperature-controlled cooking as a recent technological advance. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Markley, late Victorian and very early twentieth century cookbooks are the most interesting because they provide insight into an otherwise mysterious era of life. \u201cThe foods people ate then were so very different from today,\u201d she says. \u201cMost cookbooks were written with the assumption that the reader already knew how to cook, and instructions were sparse and basic.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This 1920s cookbook assumes cooks have basic skills and provides information on how to use a new technology – the stove. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cooking in Wartimes: 1920-1940<\/h2>\n

\u201cCookbooks from between the wars, from the 1920s to the 1940s, reflect a wide variety of cultural changes: modern conveniences and electricity were starting to come into use, women\u2019s roles were starting to change a little bit as home economics took hold as a vocation, and society was changing economically with wartime frugalities and The Great Depression,\u201d says Markley.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The poppy, colorful cover on this 1931 vintage cookbook demonstrates the effort of these books to distract from the challenges of the time. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Krausnick specializes in softcover advertising cookbooks and has a particular affinity for those published during The Great Depression in the 1930s. \u201cIn the 1930s and early 40s, as regional produce became more widely distributed, images of fruits and vegetables became bold and splashy, accented with some great Art Deco<\/a> design elements,\u201d she says. \u201cThe bright, cheery images probably helped take people\u2019s minds off the poor economic conditions, a trend echoed in the colorful kitchen wares of the Depression era.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A colorful, bright 1941 cookbook that focuses on stars and starlets of the time. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the same way Homer Laughlin sought to improve attitudes with his colorful, cheerful Fiestaware<\/a> during this era, the cookbooks did the same. \u201cMany of the advertising cookbooks incorporate lithographs and illustrations with bright colors and handsome Art Deco fonts,\u201d says Krausnick. \u201cIt was an attempt at cheerfulness during a very dismal time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

World War II Cookbooks: 1940s<\/h2>\n

Part of what makes vintage and antique cookbooks especially interesting is the graphic design element. While these days, one might not look in a catalog for examples of fine art, that wasn\u2019t the case in the 1900s. \u201c<\/span>Some well-known artists and illustrators got their start in food advertising art. Kewpies creator and Ladies\u2019 Home Journal illustrator Rose O\u2019Neill illustrated early advertising cookbooks for Jell-o, as did painter Maxfield Parish. There are some stunning examples of early graphic art in those pages.\u201d For example, Ernest Hamlin Baker\u2019s art can be found on the cover of an ice cream recipe booklet before his work was featured on a number of Fortune<\/em> and Time<\/em> magazine covers through the 1950s.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Jell-o recipe booklet illustrated by Rose O’Neill, who went on to be a famous illustrator. Image courtesy of Vintage Prairie Home<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The graphic trends continued as America entered World War II. \u201cThe war brought in lots of patriotic images and themes emphasizing economy with rations and good nutrition in support of the war efforts,\u201d says Krausnick. By 1942, there was a significant shortage of butter and other fats, which led to some very interesting substitutions and creativity on the part of cooks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A page in the 1946 Watkins Cookbook dedicated to addressing the butter shortage that came as a result of the war.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Post-War Prosperity Cookbooks<\/h2>\n
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A happily-busy housewife depicated in a cookbook from the late 1940s. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the later 1940s and 50s, there were more cartoonish images of hungry husbands, happy housewives and apple-cheeked children, reflecting the more prosperous times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Advertising in Vintage Cookbooks<\/b><\/h1>\n
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A list of Watkins ingredients in a Watkins cookbook – an example of forceful advertising in the cookbooks of this era. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the 1930s are her favorite era, Krausnick has a collection of titles spanning the 1900s. Since her focus is advertising and appliance cookbooks, <\/span>most of the authors are food companies or women who worked in a home economist role at those companies. \u201cA lot of manufacturers produced recipe booklets for their companies or popular brands such as Pet Milk, Sealtest, Rawleigh\u2019s, Crisco, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Presto and General Electric,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1933 Knox Gelatine cookbook produced by the company. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By creating unique recipes to highlight their food products, advertisers had an incredible impact on how Americans ate throughout the 1900s. \u201c<\/span>Ever wonder who thought of putting potato chips in sandwiches or crushing them to coat foods for frying?\u201d asks Krausnick. \u201cOr why so many people used to butter the bread before making a sandwich? Or how Green Bean Casserole, made with Campbell\u2019s Cream of Mushroom Soup and Durkee Fried Onions, was born? It was the advertisers, of course.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Heinz-produced guide to pickling from 1975. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cookbooks were even created with a central food product theme, like the 1939 Fritos cookbook \u201cthat calls for corn chips in everything from oysters to bread pudding,\u201d says Krausnick. \u201cAdvertising cookbooks are an ode to food processing and commercialization, but the recipes themselves can be a bit hit or miss!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1950s Sealtest Food Adviser vintage advertising cookbook. Image courtesy of Vintage Cookbook Maven.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Valuable Vintage Cookbooks<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cTruly antiquarian cookbooks, from the 18th through mid-19th centuries, are the really valuable ones,\u201d says Markley. \u201cThey are generally very scarce, and because they were heavily used, many did not survive. I am always excited to find any cookery book or ephemera from before 1870 or so.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Underwood was in for a surprise when she bought a vintage book about soda fountains for $1. \u201cI picked it up because I worked in my grandpa’s soda fountain in his drugstore as a little girl and I thought it would be fun to look at,\u201d she says. The 1893 Macmahon Recipe Book Soda Dispenser Guide Chicago<\/em> contained formulas for manufacturing carbonated water, syrups and other drinks. Written by Albert C. MacMahon of Chicago, Illinois, and published in 1893 by Goodall & Loveless of Chicago, the book includes recipes, instructions and old advertisements. Underwood ended up selling the book for $150.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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American Frugal Housewife, a highly valuable antique cookbook published in 1835. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most valuable books in Markley\u2019s current collection is an 1835 American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Child, which is listed for $175. <\/span>\u00a0\u201cIt is interesting because it is a very early example of the idea of economical cookery, and was written to housewives without servants,\u201d says Markley. Another highly valuable vintage cookbook that Markley has sold is Cooking and Castle-Building<\/em> by Emma P. Ewing published in 1883. \u00a0\u201cThis was interesting because it was a cookbook written as a novel about writing a cookbook – very unusual!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cooking & Castle-Building, a highly valuable antique cookbook. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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An inscription from 1886 on the inside of Cooking & Castle-Building. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cocktail books can also be a highly valuable category of vintage cookbook. \u201cEarly cocktail recipe books are also very collectible,\u201d says Markley. \u201cA while back I sold a copy of The Flowing Bowl: When and What to Drink<\/em>, by Charles Webster, published in 1892, This is a very scarce and very early cocktail recipe book. The author invented a tremendous number of drinks, and the book has so much information about wine, beer and spirits.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A 1960s cocktail cookbook. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A vintage VIP’s Bar Guide from 1960 offers recipes for a Pink Lady and a Rob Roy, along with cartoons. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUsually scarcity will make an antique book valuable, a first edition or a signed copy will also increase the value,\u201d says Manchester. \u201cMany of the great chefs wrote the classic cookbooks, including Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Irma S. Rombauer and Prosper Montagne.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A Note on Cookbook Condition: Unique to Vintage Books<\/b><\/h1>\n

\u201cBy their very nature, cookbooks get used and handled a lot,\u201d says Krausnick. \u201cSo many don\u2019t survive the years.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The cover of an 1835 antique cookbook, demonstrating the wear and tear that is often found on these heavily-handled items. Image courtesy of Crooked House of Books and Paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rarity of older cookbooks also means that collectors are a little less worried about condition than the average book collector. \u201cUnlike most antique or vintage books which most buyers like to be in good condition, cookbooks do not need to be in pristine condition in order to sell,\u201d says Underwood. \u201cHonestly I’ve never had a buyer complain about a cookbook with ripped pages, taped spines or food spills, lots of food spills. Cookbooks have more character when they are well loved and you can feel you are delving into the previous owners past.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Where to Find Vintage Cookbooks<\/b><\/h1>\n
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A colorful 1950s cookbook that provides instruction on freezing foods at home. Image courtesy of VintageCookbooks4U.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vintage cookbooks can be found in the most unlikely of places. \u201cI find old cookbooks everywhere,\u201d says Manchester. \u201cI have found them in warehouses and in the middle of the desert.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, they can also be found in the most obvious places: at thrift shops, estate sales<\/a> and yard sales. \u201cI look for box lots at auction and occasionally find interesting titles at a garage sale, thrift store or antique shop,\u201d says Krausnick.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For regular collectors, networking can also be valuable. <\/span>\u201cMost of them come to me,\u201d says Markley. \u201cPeople know I sell old cookbooks so I get phone calls. I do make house calls to look at books. I also look for them everywhere I go, bookstores, thrift stores and sometimes I buy them online.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the sources featured in this story sell vintage cookbooks on Etsy:<\/span><\/p>\n

Vintage Cookbook Maven<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Crooked House Books & Paper\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

VintageCookbooks4U<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Rare Books\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

And of course, it\u2019s always worth checking the EstateSales.org online auctions<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cookbooks provide a unique peek inside kitchens of the past. Kitchens and cooking have always been a central part of life and culture, so the historical information that can be gleaned from cookbooks is insightful and invaluable. Beyond that, they tend to be incredibly stimulating from a graphic design perspective.\u00a0 Jennifer Krausnick of Vintage Cookbook\u2026Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5015"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5107,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5015\/revisions\/5107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}