Old cookbooks retain their value

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Sally Arias of Jessamine County, Ky., comes from a family of cookbook lovers. In fact, her mother and her grandmother had cookbook collections that dated to the 1920s.

Recently, Arias decided to go through her mother's cookbook collection. Friends had suggested that some of them might be valuable.

Arias' mother, the late Kathryn Rogers of Evanston, Ill., liked all kinds of cookbooks, from advertising booklets to "Joy of Cooking." Some of the books that Rogers had belonged to Arias' grandmother.

Arias spent many late nights searching titles and authors on the Internet, and she found that she could make some money from the collection.

"I've found prices on every single book, and magazines," she said. "That blew me away."

Sometimes it took hours to locate just one book. The Web sites Arias found most helpful are www.oldcookbooks.com and www.vintagecookbook.com.

What Arias learned was that it wasn't as simple as "Googling" the title of the book she had, she said. The copyright date, edition and condition of the book determine the book's value. Arias had to examine each element carefully.

But regardless of what Arias could sell the books for, she had to find buyers. Now, she's building a Web site of her own to sell the cookbooks.

"I don't want to buy another cookbook in this century," she said.

SEARCHING MY OWN SHELVES

I decided to see what I could find out about some of the old cookbooks that I have. Here's what I found:

_A 1966 cookbook, "These Entertaining People: A Guide for the Elegant Hostess," (first printing) by Florence Pritchett Smith is available at www.booksandcollectibles.com for $19.65. Copies found on www.alibris.com range from $5 to $19.75.

_One of the oldest books in my collection, "An Odd Volume of Cookery" by Louise Lane Morrisey (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1949), is available for $19.95 at www.booksandcollectibles.com.

_Several editions of "The Congressional Club Cook Book: Favorite National and International Recipes" (sixth edition) were found at www.biblio.com. The 1961 edition is valued at $33.75.

_The fifth edition (1932) of "Meals, Tested, Tasted, and Approved from the Good Housekeeping Institute" sells for $7.99 at www.biblio.com.

As the holidays approach and you search through Mom's or Grandma's old cookbooks, you might want to know whether the books are valuable. Selling one book might not bring in extra cash for Christmas shopping, but if you have a roomful, it might be profitable to check it out.

Even if you're not interested in selling old cookbooks, finding out information about them can be a fun way to spend a fall evening.

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Old cookbooks are enjoyable to read, even if you never plan to make a recipe from them. Here are a couple that make good reads.

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In 1927, when "The Congressional Club Cook Book" was first published, it "was never intended to serve as an avenue of exploitation for the favorite recipes of our Club members. Rather, it has been our way of encouraging the art of cooking among our members and, at the same time, to give wide circulation to recipes from the kitchens of the world," according to the introduction in the sixth edition published in 1961.

Plans for the 1961 edition of the book were started when a new administration would be coming to Washington. Membership in The Congressional Club is composed of the wives and daughters of members of Congress, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court.

Weekly teas and receptions honoring Washington notables were "brilliant affairs."

Recipes from the wives of U.S. Rep. Frank A. Stubblefield, D-Ky. (1959-74), and Sen. John Sherman Cooper, R-Ky. (1946-49, 1952-55, 1956-73), are included.

Here is Odessa Stubblefield's recipe.

KENTUCKY FRUIT SALAD DRESSING

˝ cup sugar (honey can be substituted, for a different flavor)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon paprika

1 scant teaspoon onion juice

1 cup oil

Ľ cup vinegar

Mix dry ingredients and onion juice. Add cold oil and vinegar alternately (oil first). Beat 20 minutes. Thickens like honey and will not separate. Serve over fresh fruits. Makes 8 servings.

Cooper's wife, Lorraine Rowan Cooper, submitted a recipe for eggs Somerset for the Congressional Club Cook Book. The instructions call for cream, but no cream is listed in the ingredients.

The same recipe also appears in These Entertaining People by Florence Pritchett Smith. Smith's book features recipes and menus from famous hosts and hostesses, including the Coopers.

Senator and Mrs. Cooper entertained dignitaries in the winter and early spring at their home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Her menus for a luncheon in warm weather, a seated luncheon in cold weather and a black-tie dinner in cold weather are included in Smith's book.

Lorraine Cooper's menu for a seated luncheon in cold weather featured lobster in a pastry shell, Melba toast and Carr's water biscuits, roast pheasant, bread sauce, watercress, puree of peas, green salad with pâte de foie gras in aspic, strawberry pudding, vanilla cookies, white wine (Chassagne-Montrachet) and fruit punch.

Her menu for a black-tie dinner in cold weather included billi-bi soup (cream of mussels), roast duck, orange sauce, braised endive, wild rice, green salad, platter of assorted cheeses, water biscuits, chilled strawberry souffle, sherry, red wine and champagne.

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Here's her recipe for chilled strawberry souffle.

CHILLED STRAWBERRY SOUFFLE

1˝ cups granulated sugar

5 egg whites

1 cup strawberry puree

1 cup whipped cream

Boil the sugar with 2 cups water to the ball stage (see note). Beat egg whites until they're very stiff, and fold in the sugar syrup carefully. Freeze to the mush stage, remove from the freezer, and stir in gingerly the puree of strawberries and the stiffly whipped cream. Take a deep, straight-sided souffle mold and tie a band of paper about 1 inch wide around the upper edge. Pour the souffle mixture into the mold up to the rim. Freeze for about 2 hours. Before serving, remove the paper band. The souffle should have risen about 1 inch above the rim.

Note: For a sugar syrup at the "ball" stage, boil the sugar with the water, then from time to time drop a little of the syrup into a cup of cold water. When you can pick it out and form a soft ball the consistency of chewing gum, the syrup is ready for use.

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© 2008, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).