Used Cookbooks?

Rosyrain

Rosyrain

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Amazon.com is my best friend when it comes to purchasing many things in life and I really love their used book assortment. I will typically buy a book used, if it is available when I am looking to purchase a book. I have never purchased a used cook book before, as I always thought it would not be sanitary. I question my logic in this thinking though. Have any of you ever purchased used cook books?
 
I've bought cook books secondhand in charity shops before, no worries. I mean, unless you plan to dip your cook book in your food, what's the problem?
 
Ooops just bought some more cookbooks (gift voucher to use up!)

4 of the 6 cookbooks I have purchased today are all used cookbooks. The 5th is brand new, one of those strange times when new was cheaper and the 6th electronic because I had some free credit from Amazon prime from the trial I accidentally did and got credit for not wanting things next day.
 
I am going to pick up some used cookbooks on Amazon then. I find a lot of great deals on there, can't beat a couple of dollars for a ton of new recipes to try. I do not plan on eating the cookbook or anything like that so it is good to know that others buy them used too.
 
All of my cookbooks were bought in the charity shops - there's often a great choice and I'd never be able to afford them otherwise. I don't think there's anything unsanitary about it, after all, you'd have no problem with borrowing one from someone.
 
Rosyrain said:
I am going to pick up some used cookbooks on Amazon then. I find a lot of great deals on there, can't beat a couple of dollars for a ton of new recipes to try. I do not plan on eating the cookbook or anything like that so it is good to know that others buy them used too.
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:happy::D:D:D I am glad you came to that realization yourself. Unless you were planning to have them for lunch or dinner, I'd say go ahead and buy your books. I would probably consider it if I was into books and if the duties might not be twenty times the cost of the book.
 
You have to love customs and duties. I had a friend in Japan a long time ago and she would send me gifts every now and then, and it seemed as though the cost to ship the items were way more than the actual items were worth. I ended up asking her not to send anything else because I did not want to see here spend that kind of money.
 
I love to buy books that are being sold as a "sale items" either in a bookstore or sometimes in a market selling second hand books. There is nothing wrong buying books that are used before. It is not the old cover or pages that counts its the contents of the books that you can use for learning and for your references whatever kind of books it is.
 
when i first started in the catering industry in the mid 80s i would gather cook books,like a squirrel gathers nuts ,old book shops,jumble sales and then i stopped for a while, then as trends changed and my experience gained pace i would buy 2 new books a month,i have a book from a great great aunt by hermin sein,she was in service and the book is of great reference to me
 
Rosyrain said:
Amazon.com is my best friend when it comes to purchasing many things in life and I really love their used book assortment. I will typically buy a book used, if it is available when I am looking to purchase a book. I have never purchased a used cook book before, as I always thought it would not be sanitary. I question my logic in this thinking though. Have any of you ever purchased used cook books?
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It's funny that you mention sanitation. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my guy. He's always bought books at the second hand stores. It's one of his favourite things to do. When I first went to his apartment he had books in the bathroom & I was looking through them & saw that he had a book called The Bathroom Reader. So, I ask him where he got this book & he tells me the second hand store. What? That is the grossest thing I have ever heard. How I ended up staying with this man confuses me to this day.

I tend not to buy books at the second hand. I'd rather get books from the library (though it's not much different than a second hand store).
 
I've just purchased 2 new and 3 2nd hand cookbooks including an ex-library book. Often you can't even tell the difference between some of the 2nd hand ones and the new ones. Between the 5 books, I spent less than £14 including P&P.

JoanMcWench said:
he had books in the bathroom
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We have bathroom reading material as well. can't see the problem with it personally. It lives in the bathroom and stays there. Everyone always comments on the fact that they like the books in the bathroom. they are glance at a page books and we actually adopted the idea from friends who also had it. We have done it for well over 20 years now and never had any issues. remember bacteria need something to live off, just like humans. they have to feed and multiple and they need food frequently and regularly otherwise they die off. There is not much in the way of food in paper for them to live off and people usually wash their hands when they leave the bathroom so what is the problem? It is not as though either of us (or our guests) suffer form regular (or any) upset stomachs or vomiting so that would rule out any issues with sanitation and study and study has shown that the kitchen is usually the problem not the bathroom. People take ipads, tablets and cookbooks into kitchens regularly, place them on works surfaces that have been wiped over with what is often a less than clean dishcloth and then take them back into other rooms... The one thing I loath are dishcloths. people do not clean them or soak them in bleach anywhere near often enough to keep them clean and free from bacteria and I would much rather have a book from a bathroom than someone's dish cloth!
 
My issue was not that he had books in his bathroom but that he had books in the bathroom that others also had in the bathroom & seeing that I know given my experience in other people's bathrooms I have seen they do not close the lids. Perhaps that's not an issue for you but it is for me. Ooooh, toilet issues!
 
I love picking up used cookbooks at flea markets and yard sales.. I especially like the older ones because they always have really good recipes in them. My mom had a big collection of cookbooks but when she passed my sister told them and donated them to the Goodwill. I would really liked to have gotten a few of them.
 
Berties said:
when i first started in the catering industry in the mid 80s i would gather cook books,like a squirrel gathers nuts ,old book shops,jumble sales and then i stopped for a while, then as trends changed and my experience gained pace i would buy 2 new books a month,i have a book from a great great aunt by hermin sein,she was in service and the book is of great reference to me
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Out of curiosity, I just tried to google Hermin stein but to no avail. Then I found this (author C.Herman Senn). If it is, depending which book, it could be worth a few bob!

10938.jpg​
SENN, C.H. Chafing Dish & Casserole Cookery. 1918. [10938] 4th. edn. revised, Food and Cookery Publishing Co. 1918. With illustrations of all the different casseroles used for the recipes given. Decorated cloth, 85pp. light wear to covers and light discoloration to endpapers else v.g. £7.50
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SENN, C.H. Recherche Side Dishes comprising Hors d'Oeuvres, Sandwiches and Savouries. London, c.1903. [8368] Fifth edition, Spottiswoode, London, c.1903. Cloth decorated with a chef holding aloft a dish of steaming poultry, 265pp. advertisements, covers rubbed, edges stained in parts sometimes bleeding into margins, contents very good. A selection of simple but elegant recipes taken from some of the author's numerous books. £20.00
13584.jpg​
SENN, C. Herman. Simple Cookery for the People. Easy and Economical Dishes. c.1927. [13584] 12th. edn. Ward Lock & Co. n.d. c.1927. Softcover, 62pp. Corner to top cover lacking and ink block to top margin, contents clean and tight. Good, wholesome dishes. D.972.7) £6.50


6844.jpg​
SENN, C.H. The New 20th. Century Cookery Book. Practical Gastronomy and Recherché Cookery. 5th. Enlarged Edition. 1913. [6844] A massive tome incorporating every aspect of cooking including sections on the science of cookery, marketing, bills of fare etc. 8vo. quarter roan, 1184p. illustrated throughout, back strip very neatly relaid, contents v.g. £85.00
 
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