Last Friday was one of my favorite events of the year, The Friends of the Library Book Sale! I generally find lots of vintage books on cooking, crafts, decorating and children to add to my collection. This year was a big let down. I didn't find much of nothing. But for what it's worth, here are the few cool items I did get. Shown above is a little recipe booklet for the use of those aluminum molds that are always at thrifts.
I don't have a pressure cooker...But I liked the illo on the cover of this little owner's manual/recipe booklet. Don't you love how every cooking implement claims to make cooking easier? The only thing that will make cooking easier for me is to have someone else do it!
This was the find of the sale! The Good Housekeeping's Ten pm Cook Book as seen in the ever hilarious book The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks. I already have quite a few of the cook booklets that Lileks highlights and I try to collect the others in his book. His chapter on The Ten pm Cook Book makes me laugh every time I read it. Example:
This is the image on the back cover of the Ten pm Cook Book.
Lileks declares, "How can you make sure a 10 pm party doesn't last past 10:06? Serve them this."
Tell me that's not funny....
Here are the rest of the books I got....On many an exciting topic such as the Joys of Jello and How to work wonders with a Hamilton Beach Liqui-Blender. I picked up a couple of ones that I already have for a friend as well.
The book sale also carries a few other paper type items. I found this very unusual little portfolio of cards that are meant to be sent, I'm guessing to a child, during the time they are sick...But the catch is they have to be sick for 7 days to get all the cards...How would you know they are going to be sick that exact amount of time? I find this very peculiar. Maybe that's why it was never used after all these years. I just bought it for the cute little bear illustrations.
Like I said, this sale was really blah...I guess I should look on the bright side... Now I at least have the recipe for that awful looking pink lobster dish...Don't invite yourself to my house around 10pm cause I have plans!
Who can resist a friends of the library sale -- not me. Are yours full of resellers, frantically punching ISBN numbers into their PDAs or cell phones to see what the books are worth? Mine are, and boy are those people territorial. Anyway, you have a good eye for scores!
ReplyDeleteThats a lobster dish? eewww... I thought it was some kind of dessert maybe. That 7 day sick card is kinda morbid... I don't even like it when the boys are sick for one or two. But those cards were probably made when kids were still getting measles and mumps that would put them out for a week or more.
ReplyDeletehey the stuff you got was cool anyway
ReplyDeleteWell, if this is what it's like when you have a "bad" day at the sale, I guess I'll have to wait and see what you find on a good day! These books are incredible, and I hope to see many more tasty goody items made from them!
ReplyDeleteI love those little bear cards (ha! I said "bare cards!").
ReplyDeleteThey were probably made for kids like mine who are always sick for an entire week.
On the seventh day of sickness, my grandma sent to me, the seventh weirdo card.. (to the tune of the 7 days of Christmas, of course)
ReplyDeleteHi, I've lurked your blog before (I found you via Felt Mouse) but haven't left a comment til now. Love the books! My husband is a huge fan of library book sales and I have to show him this post.
ReplyDeleteThat "get your guests to leave by 10" book is too funny. Although I thought that dish they showed on the back cover looks similar to a LOT of the food in old cookbooks (some of the pictures look pretty dodgy, even when the recipe is good.)
Really enjoying snooping on your blog! I'll be back!
LOL at the 10pm cookbook. Who's serving heavy meals at 10pm? Bizarre. And as for the 7 Day Illness book... what the heck is that about? I can just see a mom buying this set thinking, "Oh, I hope Bobby gets REALLY sick this year and not like last year where he was only out for 4 days!" WEIRD!
ReplyDeleteI love vintage cookbook photography. Did they expect people to find that photo appetizing? Eeek. Do you ever make the recipes in vintage cookbooks? I've tried, and sometimes they work well, sometimes... well... I think our tastes have changed a bit over the last few decades.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you last Saturday when I did this: http://theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com/2006/03/domestics-drama-and-dawdling.html
ReplyDeleteAnd we have The Lifeline Book Fair this weekend. Haven't been in the 7 years I've lived here and really don't need any more books but I think I have to go check it out...
Great Books!! I absolutley LOVE the gallery of regreatable foods. I was postively CRYING in the book store (by myself which made it all the worse) when I read this book. I don't own it yet, but I always die laughing when I read it.. It's so cool that you are collecting the cookbooks! Love your site too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, kmel, for explaining how they find the values from that ISBN number. I had heard that they find out somehow....
ReplyDeleteI am on the board of the Friends of the Library in my little town and help with the book sale.
The person who runs it, is, guess what, an online book dealer and has been for some time.
This is also the person that people call if they want to donate books and then picks them up and puts them into storage for the next sale. Can't help but think that many are siponed off the top, because there are not many good books at the sale, just enouogh for this person's dealer friends, to keep them happy. Everything is politics, I have noticed in my life.
The book people at the sales in a major metropolitan area, before I moved here - they were VICIOUS. If I was first in line before a church rummage, I would let them ahead of me so I would not get trampled, since I was not looking for books, primarily...