What Is a (Cook)Book Worth?

In October last year, I attended a day-long pre-conference session titled "What Is a Book Worth?" I was interested in the concept of book value because I had just finished cataloging 4,000 books in a small research library at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The books I cataloged were old science books from the late 1800s to the 1980s, primarily, and I wondered if any of them might be valuable.

Sid Berger of Simmons College very energetically explained to us what makes a used book valuable, namely, rarity, desirability, provenance and perfect condition, above all. What about science books?, I asked him. Generally, he said, across the board, WORTHLESS. Worth the paper they're printed on and nothing more. Why? Answer: Not desirable, and they rarely have notable provenance. That helps, I thought. I can tell the curator not to worry too much about protecting the millions he thought he might be sitting on. Then Berger added, "You think science books are bad--cookbooks are worth even LESS. They're not even worth the paper they're printed on! A dollar apiece!" Well, I thought, that answers THAT question.

He said that collectors care about condition and they care about rarity. Well, when it comes to my cookbooks, I don't care so much about condition and I certainly don't care about rarity. Does that mean I am not a "collector"? I wondered. Over lunch, I dared to tell him about my huge cookbook collection and he asked me if I consider myself a collector. I said I did consider myself to be a collector. He asked me, "When did you know that you were a collector, and not just someone who has a bunch of books?" I said, "When I knew that I would never look in detail at all of the books that I have, and when I started to wonder how to bequeath my collection after I am gone." I felt like a student again, my answer solicited such a positive reaction from him. Gold star for me, yippee.

Sid Berger gave a great presentation that day. I may have learned that my cookbooks are not worth very much on the market, but I also discovered that I don't care one bit about that.