A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook Review - Collectibility
A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook contains informative write-ups on best restaurants in San Francisco (at the time of writing) along with some of their recipes. I've had several of the individual restaurant books from some of the 69 restaurants contained in the cookbook. Many of the restaurants are still classics today including Tadich Grill, Garden Court of the Palace Hotel, Schroeder's Cafe (Oldest and Largest German Restaurant on the West Coast), and Fior d'Italia (America's Oldest Italian Restaurant).
Cookbook Title: A Cook's Tour of San FranciscoAuthor: Doris Muscatine
Publisher: Philip Morris
Copyright: 1963
Format: Hardcover with dust jacket (artwork has colored squares with illustrations)
Specialization Categories: Restaurant Cookbooks, US Regional Cookbooks, Vintage Cookbooks
Average Price: $5-$7 for the 1963, First Edition. There is a revised edition with white cover art so don't mix them up
Noted Recipes: Tadich Grill Coney Island Clam Chowder, Omar Khayyam's Potato Salad, The Rathskeller Potato Pancakes (see Cookbook Village's family recipe)
COOKBOOK COLLECTIBILITY RATINGS RATINGS EXPLAINED
Availability: 4.0
Popularity: 2.0
Investment Outlook: 3.0
Final Collectibility Factor: 3.0
A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook - Availability Rating - 4.0
This book is widely available online but is vintage thus not quickly found offline. I've rated it a 4.0 for this reason. I see over 10 copies available on eBay alone with prices up to the $24 range. As noted, the book only is valued between $5-$7.
A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook - Popularity Rating - 2.0
Though it may have been popular at one time, this book doesn't sell in much volume. I've had this book listed a few times myself and it normally sells, but with only one interested buyer. This is usually a pretty good gauge of popularity. "Watchers" as eBay sellers often refer to them, are those who bookmark a book they are following at auction or have interest in bidding on. With only a "watcher" or so for this book, the popularity pretty much speaks for itself. Given the higher volume of copies available for sale, I'd venture to say this book was more popular at the time of writing and has since gone somewhat out of fashion. Often times restaurant books loose their appeal if many of the restaurants are no longer around which is the case with a lot of vintage restaurant books.
A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook - Investment Outlook - 3.0
I've rated this a 3.0 on my rating scale for Investment Outlook. From the above on popularity it should rightfully be lower, still...I think for the value of having some of the recipes from classic restaurants of the past, this book is still an interesting collectible cookbooks. It is certainly a great cookbook for its diversity and offers recipes from some of the most revered restaurants of the City.
A Cook's Tour of San Francisco Cookbook - Final Collectibility Factor Rating - 3.0
Overall, the Final Collectibility Factor Rating for A Cook's Tour of San Francisco cookbook is a 3.0. The score is fairly low when compared with some of the other vintage books covered in my previous posts. Still, I reviewed it as I find it a unique book with a lot of great background and history on the restaurants in the book. Since my cookbook specialization is collecting cookbooks from restaurants, this is still a personal favorite--especially from the historical standpoint.
