[Sca-cooks] London Auction of Cookery Books

[Johnna Holloway]

I just downloaded the catalogue and saved it. I'll have to try and  
buy  a copy with results when I am in London.

I would guess that the values are underestimated by several times. I  
know I bid on several of James Beard's books at his sale. They were  
estimated at say $30-$40 and they sold for ten times that because of  
the bookplates. People who knew Alan Davidson will want a book that  
belonged to him.

It will be interesting to see what these bring. The fish and natural  
history collection may not bring thousands but those 17th century  
texts may go for quite  a bit.

Values in cookbooks are so dependent on fashion and the market.

Some of the odd things I inherited are really worth a great deal, but  
it depends.  Like a 1904  first JELL-O® gelatin recipe book or the  
first Pillsbury Bake-Off Cookbook. I received both my Great Grand  
Mother's and Grand Mother's collections. I think it runs in the family.

Johnnae


On Mar 18, 2011, at 4:38 PM, Elise Fleming wrote:

> Greetings!  The Estate of the late Alan Davidson is selling many  
> (all?) of his food and drink cookery books on March 24.  You might  
> want to look at the catalog of what's being auctioned:  http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/auction/35800
>
> Wouldn't it be nice to have money for some of these??  I see that  
> Petits Propos Culinaires (Nos. 1-64) is being valued at about US  
> 150-250.  I've got those - and more!  I wonder what Johnna and I  
> would get for the sale of our libraries...
>
> Alys K.