Publishers: Faber & Faber
Publication date: 1956
Edition: First

A book about bread! Plain bread, milk bread, French and Austrian and cottage bread, rye bread, currant bread and more sorts of bread than you have probably ever tasted.

In this book, George and Cecilia Scurfield pass on everything they learnt during their experiment with bread, and give recipes for plain and fancy breads of every description.

Part of the Faber & Faber cookbook collection, a highly collectible series

Tanning and foxing to pages

Publishers: Corvina Press
Publication date: 1982

Rare and hard to find in the U.K, Hungarian Cuisine features traditional recipes as well as new variants, written by a top Hungarian cook, alongside a wide range of East-European specialities and French cuisine.

Chipping and tanning to d/j

Publishers: Herbert Jenkins
Publication date: 1960
Edition: First

Despite the universal acceptance of the potato as the ideal companion of every main course, it’s surprising how few cooks venture beyond boiled, roast, baked — recipes we all know so well. Exploring ‘new fields in potato cookery’, Potato Dishes is filled with interesting recipes; all easy to prepare, stimulating to eye, palate, and appetite. 

Signed by the author 

Age-related wear to d/j

Book height: 7 inches

Publishers: Allen Lane
Publication date: 1978

In the first part of English Bread and Yeast Cookery, there are chapters on flour milling and its history, on bread ovens, and yeast. An important chapter for home bakers is one in which Elizabeth David defines the different types of bread flour available and explains the distinctions to be made between them…

The second half is devoted to recipes. They are for bread of all colours and flours — wholewheat, white, wheatmeal, barely, rye, oatmeal.

‘The great thing about baking with yeast,’ writes Elizabeth David. ‘is the difficulty of failure.’

Beautifully illustrated by Wendy Jones

Foxing and staining to pages. It is a cookbook, after all!

Publishers: Arco Publications
Publication date: 1960

This book tells how to use the whole range of cheeses (all of them!) and how to use them in making delicious dishes. There are plenty of basic recipes in The Art of Cheese Cookery — enough to sustain families and friends throughout the year.

Chipping and age-related wear to d/j. Tanning to pages

Publishers: Leslie Frewin for the Cookery Book Club
Publication date: 1967
Edition: Cookery Book Club first

“This is probably the most comprehensive book on cheeses of the world ever written.”

More than to hundred and fifty cheeses — the fresh country cheeses, the bland and buttery, the Swisses, Parmesan, the Cheddars, the crèmes, Camembert and Brie, the goat and sheep cheeses, the spiced and flavoured cheeses and cheeses from monasteries — are savoured in this book. Phew!

There is everything here, from how cheeses are made, how they got their names, and — most importantly — how to cook and eat them.

Chipping to d/j

Publishers: Ten Speed Press (USA)
Publication date: 1986

The potato is simple, perhaps that's why we love it so much. In this book the potato skin becomes a container to be filled with wonders, from appetizers to full meals, and used in salads and sandwiches. The potato, yam, and sweet potato all come in for innovative, delightful treatment in recipes that are unique and easy to prepare.

Beautifully designed and illustrated by the author of The Brownie Experience this book offers some new alternatives for one of everyone's favourite foods.

Rare and hard to find in the UK

Publishers: The National Council of Negro Women (USA)
Publication date: 1993

A fantastic informative and unique cookbook concept.

As a shared meal nourishes the body, so a quilt, passed from generation to generation, warms and nourishes the spirit. Both recipes and quilts preserve the culture and history of a people and their social, historic, and artistic connections to their past and their future. Celebrating both these traditions, The Black Family Dinner Quilt offers recipes based on both traditional and contemporary African-American cuisine.

It is also signed by the American actor Meshach Taylor, for reasons I am unable to work out (!)

Front cover artwork by Faith Ringgold

Rare and hard to find in the U.K

Small burning to front cover

Publishers: Macmilan
Publication date: 1978

Bumper Cook is exactly that - a bumper collection of all the best recipes and all the most useful information from Campbell and Conran’s previous two books, Poor Cook and Family Cook.

Illustrated throughout by Susan Campbell, the recipes are extensive, ranging from soups to eggs, pasta, fish, meats (including, if you so wish, how to butcher a cow and a pig), before finishing with desserts and breads.

Written by Susan Campbell - an artist and illustrator and food writer. And Caroline Conran, former food and cookery editor of The Times, and ex-wife of Terrance Conran (related side note: Conran Associates are thanked for their help with the book's graphic design, Habitat for the loan of 'many of the utensils illustrated').

Age-related wear through book. Damage to bottom of spine. Occasional staining to pages. It is a cookbook, after all!

Publishers: MES / FX Publishing (USA)
Publication date: 1992
Binding: Paperback

Introducing the world’s first special effects cookbook!

Easy to create recipes for food that smokes, erupts, moves, sings, glows, talks, cracks, pops, and swims. With over 55 recipes including cakes, drinks, ice cream, pizza, and more

Rare and hard to find in the UK

Age-related wear and creasing to front and back cover

Publishers: Garden Book Club
Publication date: 1965

While setting out rules for growing gourds, covering such subjects as seed type, germination problems, etc, Gourds also tells how they can be edible, complete with nutritional details, along with information regarding storage, cooking, and a complete list of edible varieties.

The flesh of some varieties of gourd provided food, while others were valued as medicine. Dried gourds were among the first containers used by primitive man, their shapes influencing early pottery design (!). It’s a book of many facts.

A beautiful and highly collectible edition from the Garden Book Club, a book club run by Foyles bookshop from the 1940s to the 1960s

Publishers: The Ward Ritchie Press (USA)
Publication date: 1963

The Something Special cookbook evolved from Ruth Mellinkoff’s desire to cook and entertain in true gourmet fashion. Each recipe is helpfully followed by 4 categories, including how to assemble the dish, whether it can be frozen, etc.

The cookbook is beautifully illustrated throughout by the author

Rare and extremely hard to find in the UK

Damage to d/j (see last image in slide). Occasional foxing & staining to pages. It’s a cookbook, after all!

Publishers: Leonard Hill
Publication: 1964

A fun and informative book with beautiful colour photos and illustrations, helping the (1960s) baker be more creative with their bakes.

Rare and hard to find 

Chipping and tanning to d/j

Publishers: Thanos Press (Cyprus)
Publication: 1998
Binding: Paperback

Food From The Village is a collection of recipes from Cyprus written by Thane Prince and Polycarpos Demetriou, head chef at the Annabelle Hotel in Paphos.

This is a strikingly vibrant and colourful book, packed with beautiful Mediterranean dishes, from bread to desserts, eggs, game, fish, pasta, salads, and more.

Rare and hard to find 

Publishers: Souvenir Press
Publication date: 1970
Edition: First

579 recipes for preserving fruits and vegetables and making jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles and fruit butters and cheeses.

An essential book for preservers and picklers alike!

Rare and hard to find this edition!

Foxing and staining to pages. Ex-library

Publishers: Newman Neame
Publication date: 1951
Edition: First

A large collection of simply produced recipes centred around the humble mushroom, from sauces to stuffings, lunches and main courses. This collection of Mushroom recipes has been made to stimulate the imagination of the housewife, the book’s introduction states, whether she does her own cooking or has a cook to do it for her.

Wear to spine, boards bumped and scuffed. Tanning to pages. Tear on page 35 (see photo)

Publishers: Charles E. Tuttle Company
Publication date: 1963
Binding: Spiral bound

Extremely rare and hard to find in the UK, The Art of Chinese Cooking is a gem of a book. Beautifully printed in Tokyo, Japan, the cookbook was compiled by two American nuns who were taught to cook by a Chinese chef in the 1930s.

Illustrations by M. Kuwata

Publishers: Nicholas Kaye
Publication date: 1965
Edition: First (UK)

Fondue, yes, and cherry jam… but readers may ask what else there can be in the Swiss kitchen — and in one sense they are right, for many of the glories of Swiss cooking are not national dishes at all but the dozens upon dozens of regional specialities that tourists rarely see.

All recipes have been adapted for British requirements while retaining the authentic flavour. There is an explanatory introduction, notes on the background of the many traditional dishes in this compilation of old and new, and full and comprehensive indexes. For every cook, Switzerland offers both recipes that are easily and deliciously prepared for a world of inspiration and fresh ideas, from party cooking to pot-au-feu.

Rare and hard to find this edition in the UK

Illustrations by Judith Olonetzky-Baltensperger

Chipping to d/j