Thread: Cookbooks from Amazon

Darren wrote:
> Greetings everyone,
> I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with Amazon.com
> I haven't seen any mention of this here before.
> I only recently began shopping on Amazon, and so far, I love it.
> I started out using it because a frined of mine told me they carry a
> lot of rare and out of print music CD's.
> I later searched for cookbooks on the site and found a lot of real
> bargains.
> The real bargains are, of course, the used books. I was a little
> apprehensive about ordering them sight unseen, but the descriptions
> were accurate. All the books were in excellent condition, and I was
> very pleased with all the orders.If you are in a hurry, better to
> order the rush shipping, otherwise delivery can take a while, or not,
> depending on where it is shipped from.
> Here are a few items I ordered (please don't laugh!):
>
> "Cooking with Too Hot Tamales"-price: .96 cents
> "Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisana Cooking"-price: $1.95
> "The Only Texas Cookbook"-price:$1.99 (paperback)
> "Texas Home Cooking"-price: $3.44
> "William Sonoma Collection: Roasting"-price: $3.95
> "Williams Sonoma Collection: Steak & Chop"-price: $4.95
>
> Of course I had to pay $3.99 per book for shipping, but that is still
> a huge savings over the regular cover price.
> I love cookbooks and it looks like Amazon will be my main source for
> them now.
> Anyone else have cookbook experience with them?
>
> Darren
>
>
>
"The Jewish Home Beautiful" is not really a cookbook, but has
traditional recipes. The book deals with celebrating different holidays
and the traditional foods that Eastern European Jews made for those
holidays, so I thought it would make a great gift for a friend who
recently converted and is devouring everything she can read about being
Jewish.

The book, alas, is out of print, but I was able to score a used copy on
Amazon.com I scanned the recipes and made a cookbook in my Master Cook
program for them. The book I bought had a dedication in it. It made me
wonder who gave it as a gift the first time. :-)

Janet wrote on Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:25:53 -0600:

> Darren wrote:
>> Greetings everyone,
>> I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with
>> Amazon.com I haven't seen any mention of this here before. I only
>> recently began shopping on Amazon, and so far, I love
>> Of course I had to pay $3.99 per book for shipping, but that is still
>> a huge savings over the regular cover price. I love cookbooks and it
>> looks like Amazon will be my main source for
>> them now.
>> Anyone else have cookbook experience with them?
>>
>> Darren
>>
> "The Jewish Home Beautiful" is not really a cookbook, but
> has traditional recipes. The book deals with celebrating
> different holidays and the traditional foods that Eastern
> European Jews made for those holidays, so I thought it would
> make a great gift for a friend who recently converted and is
> devouring everything she can read about being Jewish.

You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
"good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks. "New" or
"unused" can be worth the higher prices.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

James Silverton <[email protected]> wrote:

> You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
> "good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks.

Does every recipe come out tasting stale if the book is
too old?

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
> James Silverton <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
>> "good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks.
>
> Does every recipe come out tasting stale if the book is
> too old?
>
> -sw


Of course not, silly. The cooties the cookbook has acquired over the
years jump right off the pages into the pot. You could get a bad case
of Norovirus, aka GUI flu, under those conditions.

Am I the only one here versed in Public Health?

gloria p

On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:54:21 -0800 (PST), Darren wrote:

> Greetings everyone,
> I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with Amazon.com
> I haven't seen any mention of this here before.
> I only recently began shopping on Amazon, and so far, I love it.
> I started out using it because a frined of mine told me they carry a
> lot of rare and out of print music CD's.
> I later searched for cookbooks on the site and found a lot of real
> bargains.
> The real bargains are, of course, the used books. I was a little
> apprehensive about ordering them sight unseen, but the descriptions
> were accurate. All the books were in excellent condition, and I was
> very pleased with all the orders.If you are in a hurry, better to
> order the rush shipping, otherwise delivery can take a while, or not,
> depending on where it is shipped from.
> Here are a few items I ordered (please don't laugh!):
>
> "Cooking with Too Hot Tamales"-price: .96 cents
> "Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisana Cooking"-price: $1.95
> "The Only Texas Cookbook"-price:$1.99 (paperback)
> "Texas Home Cooking"-price: $3.44
> "William Sonoma Collection: Roasting"-price: $3.95
> "Williams Sonoma Collection: Steak & Chop"-price: $4.95
>
> Of course I had to pay $3.99 per book for shipping, but that is still
> a huge savings over the regular cover price.
> I love cookbooks and it looks like Amazon will be my main source for
> them now.
> Anyone else have cookbook experience with them?
>
> Darren

i've gotten some used cookbooks and other books from them, and a few used
c.d.'s as well. they're usually in pretty good shape. amazon is also
pretty good if you need to return something.

your pal,
blake

James Silverton wrote:
> Janet wrote on Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:25:53 -0600:
>
>> Darren wrote:
>>> Greetings everyone,
>>> I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with
>>> Amazon.com I haven't seen any mention of this here before. I only
>>> recently began shopping on Amazon, and so far, I love
>>> Of course I had to pay $3.99 per book for shipping, but that is still
>>> a huge savings over the regular cover price. I love cookbooks and it
>>> looks like Amazon will be my main source for
>>> them now.
>>> Anyone else have cookbook experience with them?
>>>
>>> Darren
>>>
>> "The Jewish Home Beautiful" is not really a cookbook, but
>> has traditional recipes. The book deals with celebrating
>> different holidays and the traditional foods that Eastern
>> European Jews made for those holidays, so I thought it would
>> make a great gift for a friend who recently converted and is
>> devouring everything she can read about being Jewish.
>
> You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
> "good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks. "New" or
> "unused" can be worth the higher prices.
>
I disagree. As they get older, and scarcer, one has to be more
flexible about the condition.

--
Jean B.

"Jean B." wrote
> James Silverton wrote:

>> You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
>> "good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks. "New" or
>> "unused" can be worth the higher prices.
>>
> I disagree. As they get older, and scarcer, one has to be more flexible
> about the condition.

Yes, same here. I have many cookbooks from Amazon's section. My favorite
breadmaker book came from there. It's full of handy hand-written tips from
a previous owner and has my own added to them ;-)

cshenk wrote:
> "Jean B." wrote
>> James Silverton wrote:
>
>>> You have to be a little cautious with used books since nothing less than
>>> "good" condition is worth bothering about for cookbooks. "New" or
>>> "unused" can be worth the higher prices.
>>>
>> I disagree. As they get older, and scarcer, one has to be more flexible
>> about the condition.
>
> Yes, same here. I have many cookbooks from Amazon's section. My favorite
> breadmaker book came from there. It's full of handy hand-written tips from
> a previous owner and has my own added to them ;-)
>
>
I REALLY like cookbooks with annotated recipes!!!! Some consider
that to be a negative thing, but I just love both the tips and the
knowledge that someone else has used the book.

--
Jean B.

Jean wrote on Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:51:54 -0500:

> cshenk wrote:
>> "Jean B." wrote
>>> James Silverton wrote:
>>
>>>> You have to be a little cautious with used books since
>>>> nothing less than "good" condition is worth bothering about
>>>> for cookbooks. "New" or "unused" can be worth the higher
>>>> prices.
>>>>
>>> I disagree. As they get older, and scarcer, one has to be
>>> more flexible about the condition.
>>
>> Yes, same here. I have many cookbooks from Amazon's section.
>> My favorite breadmaker book came from there. It's full of
>> handy hand-written tips from a previous owner and has my own added to
>> them ;-)
> I REALLY like cookbooks with annotated recipes!!!! Some
> consider that to be a negative thing, but I just love both the
> tips and the knowledge that someone else has used the book.

It's a valid opinion but I don't collect many cookbooks and I'd just as
soon not have ones that look well-used. The only used book I have bought
from Amazon recently was an essentially unused copy of "The People's
Republic of China Cookbook" by Noboku Sakamotu. It is out of print and
my daughter swiped my copy*. It cost a very little more than a new copy.
My wife usually copied much used recipes by hand or xeroxed them so my
collection is in pretty good shape.

My own practice, if I like a recipe, is to do the same except that I
copy to a computer and run the results thro a character recognition
program. I can then print a fresh copy when needed and quickly modify
the stored recipe. It is true that most new recipes that I try come from
the 'Net so adding them to the working folder is easy.

*I like to remind my daughter of the limerick:

There once was man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
His daughter, called Nan, ran off with a man
And, as for the bucket,
Nantucket.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not