Musings over a vintage cookbook, By Tracey Vale

I love old books. I love that they have a history--the odd scribble or remark on a page, an old envelope used as a bookmark and offering a clue as to it's previous owner, a popular page that has been read and re-read, a gift inscription on the first page--and the following find was no exception. It was bookmarked with a portion of an envelope addressed to a Mrs. Winter of Adelaide and it's pages offer the occasional advice on favourite recipes in that typical 1950's cursive.

I came across the book while fossicking through a secondhand bookstore. I noticed a black, leatherette-bound book with an embossed insignia on the front cover. As it was sitting face-up on the counter, I couldn't see the spine and was curious as to what this book was and how old. Upon opening the cover, I discovered it was an old cookbook--published in 1958 after several reprints since the original had come out in 1952.

Good Housekeeping's Cookery Compendium, published in the U.K. by Waverley, is a true gem and an essential reference book for all cookery buffs. It is 640 pages of cooking from sauces, soups, roasts, curries and stews to baking, catering, three-tiered wedding cakes and desserts. It was published as a kitchen reference for all that the 1950's housewife would require and included photographs and even some appliance reviews. 

It's aim was also for mother's to teach their daughters the basics (very stereotypical and definitely not politically correct by today's standards!), as stated in the Introduction:

"It is produced with an eye to the needs of every member of the family and presented in attractive pictorial form, so that young daughters can be shown all the basic processes of cookery, and their elders can embark on ambitious recipes in the certain knowledge of success."

The book sold millions of copies in each edition and dog-eared versions are kept and held on to today, as I discovered after doing a little internet and forum research. The book continued to be revised and republished and there is a current version available today, although some have commented that they still hold on to their mother's/grandmother's edition as this still remains the true reference.

As so many were sold, there are many old editions available for sale on such sites as Amazon and Ebay, ranging in price from around $20 to $60 and up. Some even come in their original delivery box--perhaps a post-war sign of the times where items were valued and remnants of all kinds were kept, just in case.