The majority of the ingredients may have been basic, but these recipe books were worth their weight when sold.

A Guide to Collecting Cookbooks

1. A Guide to Modern Cookery

Escoffier

One of the world’s great cookbooks, a 1907 first edition signed by the author and inscribed to Sarah Morgan, who worked at the Cavendish Hotel in London.
Sold for $5124

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2. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy

Mrs. Hannah Glasse

First American Edition of this cookery classic that was first published in England in 1747. Glasse's book was reprinted many times and was the most popular cookbook in early America. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned copies.
Sold for $2875

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3. Le Viandier de Taillevent

Guilaume Tirel

It is one of the earliest recipe collections of the Middle Ages. This copy, a limited first edition reprinting of 350 copies in 1892 is a fine association copy, signed by Ferran Adria (one of Europe’s top chefs). Tirel was the cook for several French kings including Philip VI, Charles V and Charles VI from around 1325, and Le Viandier is one of the most important culinary text of the middle ages.
Sold for $1950

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4. La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise

Menon

This is an anonymous translation of Menon's La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise (the French Family Cookbook) that was originally published in 1746. This is arguably one of the most influential cookbooks in history and helped define the genre.
Sold for $1751

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5. The Complete Housewife

Eliza Smith

This classic 18th century British cookbook was reprinted many times and the 1742 edition, published in Williamsburgh, VA, was the first cookbook published in the US. The text contains recipes for food and herbal medicines. The marvelous engraved frontispiece depicts the 18th century kitchen with three women cooks and their attendants. After Hannah Glass and Elizabeth Raffald, Smith was the best known English 18th century cookery author.
Sold for $1400

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6. El Cocinero Español (The Spanish Cook)

Encarnación Pinedo

The first cookbook written by a Latin American woman in the United States, and the first Spanish language cookbook published in California, published in 1898. This item was accompanied by a copy of Dan Strehl's book, Encarnación's Kitchen containing English translations of about 300 of the recipes.
Sold for $1350

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7. Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book: What to Do and What Not To Do in Cooking

Mrs. D.A. Lincoln

A good first edition copy (1884) of the only cookbook to be included in the Grolier Club’s exhibition of 100 American books printed before 1900. The book was in print, in original and revised editions, for forty years, a twenty-third printing being recorded in 1923.
Sold for $1200

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8. The Italian Confectioner or Complete Economy of Desserts According to the Most Modern and Approved Practice

W.A. Jarrin

A comprehensive work, with instructions for sugar boiling and recipes for candies, caramels, chocolate, marmalades, preserved fruit, tablet, and compotes from 1861.
Sold for $948

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9. Arte de cocina, pasteleria, vizcocheria, y conserve

Francisco Martínez Montiño

15th impression from 1797. First published in 1611 under the title Arte de cozina, this important Spanish cookbook offers popular dishes of French and Portuguese as well as native origin, and also documents the lasting influence of medieval Islamic culture on Spanish cuisine. Martínez Montiño had a long and successful career as royal cook for Philip II, III, and IV of Spain.
Sold for $900

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10. Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome

Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome (translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling)

#13 of 30 limited and signed copies of the first English translation of one of an early Roman cookbooks, published in 1936.
Sold for $850

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