I don't buy many books anymore after having to painfully donate bookcases full of them in order to create space. This book intrigued me, though, and I'm hoping you all can answer some of my questions. The book itself was used and has water damage in the front. There are a few references to it that I could find on the web, so it must not have been very popular - one is a salesman's sample at Abe's books and one on Google with no price or information. I have included photographs of some of the ephemera stuck in pages of the book and one of the hand written recipes in the back. My questions are as follows: Does the statement that the book was entered in 1901 in the Library of Congress a copyright action? Since it is "Not Available in Bookstores" does that mean it was part of a subscription or was it sold door to door? This is a big book with illustrations - was this self published? Any comments appreciated.
Oh @KikoBlueEyes I would have this in my kitchen in a flash . It's amazing the history contained in old recipe books x
Given the language "Sent Postpaid upon receipt of price...," I would think it was advertised in women's magazines and readers sent in their money to order. They then received it by mail. The "Presented to" page would lead one to believe it was advertised as a gift item. A.B. Kuhlman appears to have been a publisher (with offices on Chicago's Lake Street) around the turn of the 20th century. They may well have distributed their products via mail order. Debora
Thank you so much for this. I was trying to figure out how it worked. It seemed unusual to say not sold in bookstores but that must have been a thing then.
My primary cookbook is the American woman cookbook the version produced during WWII. I don’t cook much but I am fascinated by recipes about how to cook raccoon etc.
Mail order was big, big then. (Remember this was the period when the Sear's catalog was introduced.) And there would have been many, many small American towns without book stores or easy access to books. (Remember this was also the period when Carnegie Libraries were being built.) Debora
Thank you. I didn't put these pieces together. It's 786 pages, so the mailing cost would have been significant, as well as the cost of $2 which would be $62 in current value of money. Quite an investment.
My knowledge of practical history wasn't up to the task. Thank you. I know that book club books are still mailed today. My primary book reading tool is Audible now. Otherwise, I would have to own a second house.
The $2 purchase price would have included postage which was .02¢/oz. at the time. (Without low postage rates, direct mail selling wouldn't have been possible in the first place.) I am always skeptical of those on-line historical currency converters. I would question the $62 equivalent. Yours was not an expensive book in its time. Just grabbing a quick (later) statistic off the internet... A pound of butter cost .40¢ in 1913. So your book might have had a value equivalent of a couple pounds of butter. Debora
