Anyone Else Like Antique Cookbooks? Especially Ebooks?

Got a Kindle Fire for my Christmas present and I'm going crazy downloading tons of free out of print antique cookbooks.

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. So where are the other fans of 1800's and 1900's cookbooks?

My partner and I go the opposite direction from Kindle and such larks. We love old hand-writen cookbooks: they give not merely food-information, but remarkable glimpses into people's lives.

I love downloading antique cookbooks as ebooks. When I got my ereader 2 years ago, they were one of my first discoveries on googlebooks. I love them as much, if not more, for their historical interest factor as for actually trying recipes. Some of my favorites include regional cookbooks (Louisiana for one!) and cookbooks of international cuisine. I was surprised how many of these existed in the 19th/early 20th centuries. And as for Harry's comment, I love coming across old handwritten recipes or recipe collections, though these are somewhat harder to come by!

I often consult antique cookbooks for research purposes, so I'm totally open to using online and e-book versions. I do have a fair number of reprints but they aren't books that I use, and it is easier to search through them in their e-book forms when I am looking, for example, for recipes on how people in Jane Austen's era prepared eel.

In re #4. Yes, dear friend, but even an old cookbook won't say WHY (hoho). Peace, -- G

Right now I've been checking out antique jam and jelly making. It's interesting to see society's taste shift from spicy and sour to sweet and cloying.

In re #6. I suspect that economics has something to do with it: aggresive marketing of sugar as (allegedly) more convenient than honey or molasses, and the price-diiferential over real/wholesome flavourings, particularly in mid- to late 2oth Century America, Land of the Almighty Price-Supports to Corporate Agriculture. Cheers -- and stand up for the cause of spicy righteousness. I'm right there with you. -- Goddard. PS: my partner adds that the variety of fruits available for preserves, baking, etc has likewise shrunk terribly. Even those of us who live in the country have some long searches; I despairr for those in big cities, unless they want to pay absurd premium prices for what once was available at farm-stands

Yes indeed. These, or recent books giving ancient recipes. Among my favourites on my shelves or more often next to my chair, are a 1905 Mrs Beeton, a strange offering called To the King's Taste (mediaeval English) and two reconstructions of Apicius. The OP gives me a good way to expand this set.

I recently treated myself to copy of The Cookbook Library, compiled from the fabulous collection of historic cookbooks of Ann Willan and her husband. This is a really handsome book and it includes recipes adapted for modern use.

I didn't realise that you could get antique cookbooks online. I'm not sure the idea appeals to me. I do have the Kindle edition of The Flavour Thesaurus though, and the hyperlinks make it easy to navigate your way through the tangle of cross-references.

I am currently reading Culinary Pleasures which is a history of English cookbooks from Mrs Beeton onwards. Food is a very important element of social history, often overlooked, and cookbooks reflect changes in how people live.

This is enlightening. I didn't even know antique cook books were available out there. Must go browsing.

I got this list from an e-list & sent it to my daughter-in-law who loved them:

Old Cook Books (late 1800's & early 1900's)--

Here are links to complete e-copies of old cookbooks that can be read
online and downloaded for free in PDF format, at Archive.org and
Google e-books.

Some have directions for folk remedies...

Ryzon baking book - 1917
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924089597227#page/n0/mode/2up

GOLD MEDAL FLOUR COOK BOOK (1910)
http://www.archive.org/stream/goldmedalflour00washrich#page/n1/mode/2up

Worcester family cook book (1895)
http://www.archive.org/stream/worcesterfamilyc00worc#page/1/mode/2up

Rumford Complete Cook Book - 1908
http://www.archive.org/stream/rumfordcomplete00workgoog#page/n5/mode/2up

The Calumet cook book (1916)
http://www.archive.org/stream/calumetcookbook00calu#page/n3/mode/2up

Royal Baking Powder Company Cook Book - 1886
http://www.archive.org/stream/myfavoriterecei00compgoog#page/n5/mode/2up

Metropolitan Cookbook - booklet from 1964
http://www.archive.org/stream/MetropolitanCookbook/1-64#page/n0/mode/2up

The Chinese cook book (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/chinesecookbook00chan#page/n7/mode/2up

Chinese cook book (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/chinesecookbook00gals#page/n1/mode/2up

The Manila cook book (1919) - Union Church of Manila (Philippines)
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924059639215#page/n3/mode/2up

How We Cook In Los Angeles - 1894
http://www.archive.org/stream/howwecookinlosan00losa#page/n5/mode/2up

Unitarian Church cook-book - (Manchester, N.H .) - 1905
http://www.archive.org/stream/cookbook00chapgoog#page/n0/mode/2up

The Dixie cook-book (1883)
http://www.archive.org/stream/dixiecookbook00wilcgoog#page/n3/mode/2up

The East Milwaukee cook-book (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/eastmilwaukeecoo00milw#page/n1/mode/2up

The Captain's Lady cookbook--personal journal : circa, Massachusetts 1837-1917
http://www.archive.org/stream/captainsladycook00jasm#page/n3/mode/2up

Dixie cookery; or, How I managed my table for twelve years. A
practical cook-book for southern housekeepers (1867)
http://www.archive.org/stream/dixiecookeryorho00barr#page/n5/mode/2up

Cooking for profit : a new American cookbook adapted for the use of
all who serve meals for aprice (1893)
http://www.archive.org/stream/cookingforprofit00whitrich#page/n5/mode/2up

The new Dixie cook-book and practical housekeeper, carefully comp.
from the treasured familycollections of many generations of noted
housekeepers: (1889)
http://www.archive.org/stream/newdixiecookbook00wilc#page/n1/mode/2up

The Century cook book (1899)
http://www.archive.org/stream/centurycookbook99rona#page/n9/mode/2up

The Eta cook book (1914)
http://www.archive.org/stream/etacookbook00alph#page/26/mode/2up

The Mansfield cook book (1890)
http://www.archive.org/stream/mansfieldcookboo00mans#page/n9/mode/2up

The national cook book (1856)
http://www.archive.org/stream/nationalcookbook00pete#page/n9/mode/2up

Atlanta woman's club cook book - 1921
http://books.google.com/books?id=fOQq...

you can read for free or download in PDF for free at Archive.org.

Ryzon Baking Powder Baking Book - (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924089597227#page/n0/mode/2up

Gold Medal Flour Cook Book (1910)
http://www.archive.org/stream/goldmedalflour00washrich#page/n1/mode/2up

The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book, San Francisco, CA (1919)
http://www.archive.org/stream/hotelstfrancisco00hirtrich#page/n7/mode/2up

Boston Cooking-School cook book (1910) (Fannie Farmer Cook Book)
http://www.archive.org/stream/bostoncookingsch00farm#page/n5/mode/2up

The Settlement cook book (1948)
http://www.archive.org/stream/settlementcookbo00kand#page/n3/mode/2up

The White House cook book (1899)
http://www.archive.org/stream/whitehousecookbo00gillrich#page/n5/mode/2up

Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book (1911)
http://www.archive.org/stream/mrslincolnsbosto00linc#page/n7/mode/2up

Worcester family cook book (1895)
http://www.archive.org/stream/worcesterfamilyc00worc#page/1/mode/2up

The National Cook Book (1856)
http://www.archive.org/stream/nationalcookbook00pete#page/n9/mode/2up

The Blue grass cook book (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/bluegrasscookboo00foxmiala#page/n5/mode/2up

The Chinese cook book (1917)
http://www.archive.org/stream/chinesecookbook00chan#page/n7/mode/2up

The Dixie cook-book (1883)
http://www.archive.org/stream/dixiecookbook00wilcgoog#page/n3/mode/2up

How We Cook In Los Angeles - (1894)
http://www.archive.org/stream/howwecookinlosan00losa#page/n5/mode/2up

The Rocky mountain cook book (1903)
http://www.archive.org/stream/rockymountaincoo00nortrich#page/n5/mode/2up

Cloud City cook-book - Leadville, CO (1889)
http://www.archive.org/stream/cloudcitycookboo00nash#page/n7/mode/2up

Nice. There's also this site- http://oldrecipebook.com/ They have a bunch of scans of recipe books mostly from the early-mid 20th century.

I have starred this thread. I need to go back and explore some of these when I have a chance!

Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful response.

After looking everywhere and being unable to find it a friend of mine scanned his old falling-apart copy of twain's feast.

The authors goes on search of the food found throughout Twain's writings and memoirs and his effort to try and cook them. Looks intriguing and soon to be on my reading list.

>11 PhaedraB: gives a great list of old cookbooks available to download free.
Worth a bump!