Good Housekeeping Cook Book - Collectibility Review

Good Housekeeping Cook Book is a classic cookbook collectible that has been published many times over. It is a huge cookbook with over 900 pages and crammed full with recipes of every sort. The recipes are brief and easy to follow. There are also some great how-to pages and illustrated demonstration style pages.

Cookbook Title: Good Housekeeping Cook Book
Author: Good Housekeeping Institute - Dorothy B. Marsh Editor
Publisher: International Readers League
Copyright: 1942 (photo shown is 1942 printing)
Format: Hardcover, 947 pages
Specialization Categories: Vintage Cookbooks
Average Price: $20
Noted Recipes: Cheese Souffle, Turkey Pie, Peach Fritters, Gnocchi A La Romana, Holiday Egg Nog, Pennsylvania Pumpkin Pie

COOKBOOK COLLECTIBILITY RATINGS RATINGS EXPLAINED

Note this review is for the 1942 edition shown.

Availability: 5.0
Popularity: 3.0
Investment Outlook: 3.0
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Final Collectibility Factor: 3.67 out of 10.0

The Good Housekeeping Cook Book - Availability Rating - 5.0

There are many editions and printings of this classic. I'm reviewing the 1942 edition as it's one I own and it seems to be one of the few editions that has a resale value--likely because it's a wartime year and WWII cookbooks tend to be more sought after as collectibles. Still, unlike other wartime cookbooks, there is no special text or chapter mentioning it's a wartime edition. In terms of availability, I've rated it a 5 as there are approximately a dozen copies of this 1942 edition for sale online at the time of writing this review (that's not many but could hardly be called scarce).

The Good Housekeeping Cook Book - Popularity Rating - 3.0

I remember a few years back when pretty much any of the vintage editions of The Good Housekeeping Cook Book were popular collectibles. With the current economy most editions of this book, with the exception of this 40's edition and some earlier iterations of the book, have almost no resale value. Popularity has thus declined extensively though it could pick up. I've noticed most of the publishing house cookbooks are not popular as they were several years back (McCall's, Good Housekeeping, Southern Living..). The evidence is pretty obvious, the book is not what it used to be in the eyes of collectors. I've ranked it accordingly, as a 3 on the popularity scale.

The Good Housekeeping Cook Book - Investment Outlook Rating- 3.0

Doubtful this book will go up much in value any time soon. Looking at other popular magazine publisher's cookbooks considered vintage the value isn't particularly high with age. Some of the oldest vintage books are worth less than today's top chef cookbooks--sad, but true. This may be one of them though the copy shown is worth about $20.

The Good Housekeeping Cook Book - Final Collectibility Factor Rating - 3.67 out of 10

If you are buying it purely for the recipes, it's probably a steal. If it's as an investment, better put your $ somewhere else. If you see a copy for under $20, you've got yourself a nice value for the price.

Some Additional Editions
Shown from left to right: 1944, 1949, 1962