I meant to post about this ages ago but in between the move and visit to Australia, it got lost along the way!
I adore vintage cookbooks like crazy. Mum has her own mums Good Housekeeping Institute’s Cookery Compendium from 1955 that I just LOVE going through and always have.
For some time I had been on the lookout for a certain Good Housekeeping Cookbook binder from 1958 that is outlined here.
Basically the binder holds together the individual cookbooks (there are 20 in total) that would have been purchased separately back in the day. You can read about them all at the link above and see some close ups of the individual cookbooks. They are fantastic and have great recipes and more importantly, fantastic retro photos and the fonts and design of these cookbooks are spectacular. I knew buying a collection like this meant there would be issues with wear, tear and paper quality and that I was not going to find anything perfect. I had my alerts set up on eBay and while there are where some for sale, many of them were in poor condition, had books missing or were asking a lot of money.
Then an alert came up for one that looked fantastic. Apart from some general wear on the binder, it was in mint condition. I thought there was no chance I would get it… but luck was on my side and I got it for $35!!!!! To make it even better, it was from someone in Amarillo! And to make it even better, from what I could tell it was an estate sale and I let the man know that the books would be going into good hands where I would treasure it as much as his own mother must have. The binder is HUGE. The photos below do not do it justice… but oh dear it is adorable!
The side and front of the binder – I love the shade of green and the font!
The pages within – the photography, styling and colours are beautiful!
I cannot wait to have a Sunday afternoon on the couch with a blanket over me where I can go through this absolute treasure and pick out recipes to try.