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Hi I am new here, what a great site. This one caught my eye because I was searching for info on a particular 1908 cookbook. I just got my hands on the original 1st print copy of the 1908 Rumford Complete Cook Book and needed some info about it. I love the fact that some of the recipes are family favorites that have never been printed. I am thinking I might sell it, but want to look at it first. WOW a 100 year old book!!

"America's First Cookbook", 1796. You can get a reprint on amazon.com. It is wonderful reading!

I think it's The Art of Fine Baking by Paula Peck, copyright 1961.. although I was thinking it was much older than that based on its condition lol

All of my oldest cookbooks have come from my grandmother and great-grandmother. In fact, I just recently got a box out of storage filled with handwritten recipes and cookbooks that I need to sort through. But as of right now some of the oldest are:
The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, 1938
The Settlement Cook Book "The way to a man's heart", 1943
The Rumford Complete Cook Book, 1924...
An interesting side-note inside the Rumford book was a newspaper clipping article titled: "Says Cream of Tartar Will Cure Smallpox"
It also seems Rumford was also a chemical company and so the book has recipes like: "Acid Phosphate Whey"

My oldest cookbook was given to me as a wedding gift in 1966. It's a Watkins book and has some very basic recipes in it. I've used it a lot not only for the recipes, but for reference.

I've noticed that a lot of the older cookbooks were from companies to make you want to use their ingredients or utensils in your cooking.

I've recently decided to get my mother's recipes together into a form that I can share with my family. I'm thinking it would be a great gift to my neices and nephews and my children and grandchildren.

My oldest one is Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion the 1887 edition. The book is in great shape and along with recipes it contains instructions for setting up a kitchen, what furnishings and equipment are required with illustrations of cooking utensils, pots, decorative cutters, etc. My favorite part of the book is the menu section, called "Bills of Fare." She provides menus for each month and special holidays. A suggested lenten dinner: Oysters in a block of Ice, Mock Bisque, Baked Shad with Sauce Hollandaise, Potato Balls, Broiled Salmon Maitre d' Hotel, Green Peas with Butter, Cheese Souffle, Lobster Salad, Cabinet Pudding with Wine Sauce, Frozen Apricots, Caramel Ice-cream, Small Fancy Cakes, Fresh Fruit and Coffee. Where did they put it all????

I have about 300 cookbooks from the 30s, 40s and 50s that were my mother's, She was an avid collector. There are plenty of fine recipes and manyunusual obnes by today's standards.As I grow older I've begun placing some on ebay with good results.

my grandmother's finishing school textbook from the 1940s. it's got wonderfully quaint advice on daily menus and how to light a dining room perfectly.

1928 Fannie Farmer - should i ever get a craving for Knickerbocker Figs, I am set up.

1929 Modern Priscilla Standard Cook Book. With WASHABLE cover!

It's the neatest and oldest in our house - the December, 1951 Marquette Golf and Country Club cook book from Marquette MI. I have no idea where it came from or how I got it, since I have never been to MI nor do I have relatives there. It's three ring style and has strange and classic '50s recipes all typed on a type writer, with hand drawn blue pages to separate the different foods. The poem at the front:

There used to be an adage in the dear dead days gone by,
That "Women's place is in the home" we never could see why,
The kitchen was the only place to while away the hours,
New recipes concocted to the tune of "Hearts and Flowers,"
How times have changed, and women too - the man's world is no more.
Women are in businesses they never were before,
And so it just comes naturally that sports have got them too.,
Gold is no except - BUT the cookings still to do,
So to keep the husbands happy, and maintain the home morale,
We offer this collection, it's your Culinary Pal.

I, too, have a New Orleans Times Picayune Creole cookbook. Mine was published in 1938 but it was first published in 1901. The cover price is $1.50.

If anyone is interested in the recipe for Baked Sheepshead a la Creole, I can hook you up.

Since I am antiques dealer and collector, I have many neat cookbooks from the 19th century, however, the oldest cookbook that I actually still use is Frugal Gourmet's paperback book from the 1980's.
Still some good recipes in that book!

My mother, who not enthusiastic or imaginative about cooking, gave me two of the three cookbooks she owned, which are among my most treasured and used books:

A 1950 edition of "The Talisman Italian Cookbook" - it was a premium from the Ronzoni Macaroni company (still my favorite brand of dried pasta) - you sent in some box tops + a small fee for it. It's a wonderful basic Italian cookbook (it was the best selling cookbook in Italy for decades - their equivalent of "The Joy Of Cooking," and is a translation from the Italian edition.

A 1965 edition of the Settlement Cookbook ("The Way To A Man's Heart" is the tagline) - it was a gift to her from my grandfather.

I also have a 1969 paperback edition of the "Joy Of Cooking" that was given to me decades ago by a relative who was going to throw it out. It's a great edition.

I still rely on many of the Settlement Cookbook & Joy Of Cooking's recipes for cakes, cookies and desserts.