Do you sell cookbooks?

[grasswire]

Here's a tip.

Homemakers of the 20th century often kept a handwritten cookbook alongside their printed cookbooks. In this handwritten cookbook, which was often recorded in a plain spiral writing book or an old plain journal book of some kind, they wrote down Grandma's cakes and Aunt Mable's corn dodgers and all that stuff.

I have done very well with these on eBay.

You can find them for nearly free at estate sales. A buck, at most, and ignored largely. List them by describing the most obscure-sounding of the recipes written inside. Try to assign an age to them by doing a bit of detective work -- often there are clippings inside that might be dated. Keep all loose papers inside -- recipe cards, clippings, etc.

I have sold them on eBay for anywhere from $30 to $120. Even $30 for a $1 investment is pretty damn good. If the book is largely unwritten or if it has few interesting things in it, I will bundle it with another one of similar quality and sell as a lot.

[grasswire]

1. oh, and be sure to say "handwritten" in your listing title

That seems to be the key word.

[Vinca]

2. I'll keep my eyes peeled for them. I occasionally sell an interesting

cookbook, but haven't seen the ones you described. I did see a similar one from the 1800's, but the seller wanted too much for it. It was actually a copy of a very old book that the owner had used as a scrapbook, pasting recipes and other things in. Another thing that sells well are diaries. They don't have to be particularly old, either. I've got one I can't bear to put on ebay because the young woman describes losing her virginity.