Ohio Hidden Treasures

So I have another item of interest. And from the title of the blog you can tell it has something to do with books. Yes, that means I also have a "collection" of books. I love reading and learning, and what better way to do either of those things than read? Well, I was in Cincinnati last weekend at my girlfriends house, and I was helping her parents clear some things out of their basement for a garage sale. We came across this big box of books that they wanted to get rid of. Since her parents know I love books, they offered the box to me. They said take what I wanted, and I could donate the rest to Goodwill or something. So I brought the box home and hadn't looked through it until the other day. There wasn't anything super rare or spectacular in the box, but there were a few items of interest.

For the most part, the box was full of old cookbooks, but there were a few other books in the box. But to my surprise, the most interesting books in the box were cook books! Out of about 50 or so books, the top three for me were these...

1) Boston Cooking-School Cook Book

By: Fannie Merritt Farmer

- This book is the Revised Edition, and was published in Boston, MA by Little, Brown, and Company in 1922. So this book is almost 100 years old! I looked it up in an antique book price guide and it's only worth about $9.99. But still, a 100 year old cookbook gets to keep its place in my collection.

2) Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book

By: Chiquita

- This is a smaller pamphlet style booklet issued from the Chiquita Banana company in 1950 that contains many different recipes with, you guessed it, BANANA'S as the main ingredient. The whole book seems to be in excellent condition except the white mark on the bottom of the front cover. I can't seem to find a definitive price on the pamphlet, but a few people I've talked to about it believe it could be worth quite a bit, maybe $40.00-$60.00.

3) Three Rivers Cookbook

By: The Child Health Association of Sewickley, PA

- This book isn't worth much if anything to most collectors. But, since I am from the Pittsburgh, PA area, and this book is full of drawings, recipes, and illustrations dealing with all things Pittsburgh, I love it. It has submitted recipes from all different cuisines as well of drawings of famous areas of Pittsburgh and the sports teams, The Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates. I have no idea how much it could be worth, but to me it's priceless...for now.

The box had many other books. One about Kentucky Recipes with little stories, quips, and anecdotes. A Cincinnati tour guide style book all about restaurants in Cinci with famous recipes from the stores. An old Mayberry RFD cookbook with recipes from Aunt B and the rest of the gang. Many old pamphlets from the Osterizer company, as well as many other neat old books. Maybe this isn't the most glorious of finds, but I enjoyed reading some of the books, and digging through recipes of the past.

I have just acquired three more cameras to post about very very soon. The one hasn't even gotten to me yet...but I'll have it here soon enough. So stay tuned to see these next great finds, and until then...HAPPY TREASURE HUNTING!