Pilsbury
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Oldest recipe book in your collectionI was looking through my book shelves for some new menu ideas for work when i came across a recipe book I hadn't really looked at before. I think it must have come out of a box of stuff my mum had and got passed on to me when she died. it is missing its cover but it does have the printing info inside and it is a Royal British Legieon cook book from 1929 and it got me wondering what is the oldest cook book that is sitting on peoples shelves?
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sally_in_wales
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Oldest in its current form, or oldest recipes? I've got everything from Roman onwards, but probably a handwritten soap recipe from 17something or other is the oldest actual recipe in my collection
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jema
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We use a French cookery book that is from the 1950's. I think we might have an older book, but having something on the shelf does not really qualify.
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Viking_Chick
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1971 - not that old I'm afraid. Its the New York Times Natural Foods cookbook. I don't use it very often though.
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2steps
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1968, my nan gave it to me when I first left home and I have always used it loads. I have 2 books of war recipes that are great too but they are new books, if that makes sense?
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Mad Dad
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I have a book which was supplied with a gas oven in the early fifties. It's full of simple recipies for casseroles, pies, biscuits and cakes and as it was printed before globalisation the ingedients used are generally British.
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Erikht
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My copy of Warne's everyday Cookery, printed in 1937. Lots of older books in reprint, but this is the real mcCoy.
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cab
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Got a translation of Apicius, the Roman cook. Very interesting too.
Jacqui Woods 'Prehistoric Cooking' doesn't really count...
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JB
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| cab wrote: | | Jacqui Woods 'Prehistoric Cooking' doesn't really count... |
Not unless its daubed on your kitchen wall using ash and clay 
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giraffe
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I'm a real sucker for 1940s and 1950s cookbooks with their garish pictures of amusingly presented food and housewives in pinnies! I think at heart I really want to be a middle class 1950s housewife in a housecoat worrying about scouring powder, but only for about a week. The best cookbook I own is a 1950s copy of Mrs Beeton, complete with illustrations of formica kitchens. The recipes actually are great, except for something called "rice mould" which I tried and turns out to be slightly chewy rice stuck together with milk. Supposed to be an exciting dessert but we fed it to the dog.
For Christmas last year my OH, knowing about my obsession, went to a second hand bookshop and got me a huge stack of 1950s Women's Own magazines for next to nothing, and everyone in her family thought I was mad when I sat there ignoring the expensive gifts they got me and roaring with laughter at the very silly knitting patterns!
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giraffe
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oh, and on a more serious note, the oldest cookbook in my collection is a notebook of copperplate handwritten recipes from the early 1800s, written by a long dead ancestor and passed down to me through the family.
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ele
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In a similar vein to the 1940's cookbooks I like those dusty old household encyclopeadias, the ones with old fashioned cleaning tips, etiquette rules and odd sounding recipes (rice hedgehog anyone?). I've no idea how old the one I've got is as it's got no date in it, I should try a recipe one day, not sure about the medical tips though, they look a little scary... 
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Fee
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I've got a few great little books, some passed down, some bought in a great little secondhand bookshop I used to frequent in Winchester.
I have a copy of the 'Stork Wartime Cookery Book' by Susan Croft, which belonged to my Great Granny and is without cover and pretty yellow, and also her copy of 'Traditional Scottish Recipes' book, which I think is from the 50's.
Then, one of my favourite books is from 1924 (or was it 1929) and is called 'Halfpenny Recipes' or similar, and is full of family recipes to make on a low budget...although they'll cost a fair amount more than a halfpenny now, it's jam-packed full of traditional recipes you can still make on a budget. It's a great little book and cost me somthing like 50p a few years back. Best recipe is for macaroni cheese, you can't beat it! Also has potted head recipes and alike.
Fee 
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