Free Recipe Books PDF – Free Cookbooks PDF

Recipe Books PDF – Collection

More than 40,000 recipe books pdf at the Internet Archive. Most of the collections of free recipe books on this webpage are parts of this huge collection.

Carry Out a Search for Cookbooks

Try a search. In the search bar in this link you can replace the capitalized words “SEARCH TERM” with some type of cookbook you’re interested in. It can be one word or more, although sometimes one word works best. Save books you like to your Internet Archive account by clicking “Favorite” while logged in there.

Vegetarian Cooking Books PDF – Collections

Healthy Dinner Options Vegetarian

Healthy Cheap Dinners Vegetables

Easy Healthy Recipes Vegan

Vegetarian Cookbooks 1887-1919

Outdoor Cooking Books PDF – Collections

Outdoor Cooking Cookbooks

Barbecue Cookery Recipe Books PDF

Holiday Cookbook – Collections

Holiday Cook Books

Christmas Recipe Books PDF

Thanksgiving Cookbooks PDF

Easter Recipes Books PDF

Vintage Recipe Book PDF Collections

Cookbooks from the 18th Century

Cookbooks from the 18th & 19th Centuries (271)

Early American Cookbooks 1800-1920

Cookbooks 1800-1899, in English & Other Languages.

Pre-World War I Charity Cookbooks (JBLCA). Mostly 1870s – 1900s. (38)

Vegetarian Cookbooks 1887-1919

1920s Charity Cookbooks (JBLCA)

Cookbooks Published in the Early 20th Century (26)

Community and Charity Cookbooks 1874-1999

Cookbooks 1706-1999 (770)

Boston Public Library Cookbook Collection, Pre-1923 (168)

Cookbooks and Home Economics Collection

The ‘Cookbook and Home Economics Collection’ contains over 11,000 books “from the Young Research Library Department of Special Collections at UCLA, the Bancroft Library at The University of California, Berkeley, and the Prelinger Library. These fascinating books take us back to an America in the early decades of the 20th century covering topics on cookery, textiles, family and home, budgeting, domestic sciences, and many other delightful topics.” – Internet Archive.

Szathmary Culinary Manuscripts and Cookbooks

An online collection at the University of Iowa Libraries of 125 “Handwritten cookbooks, circa 1600s-1960s, documenting culinary history in America and Europe and how tastes have changed over the years.” This collection include the oldest cookbooks on this webpage. Thanks to volunteers, you will find the typed transcription under the image of each page.

Miss Beecher’s Housekeeper and Healthkeeper … – Miss Beecher Old Recipe Books PDF

containing Five Hundred Recipes for Economical and Healthful Cooking; also, many directions for securing health and happiness. Approved by physicians of all classes

Beecher, Catharine Esther

NY: Harper & Brothers 1873

This is a comprehensive guide to the responsibilities of the housewife of the early 1870s. Part I contains advice on meal preparation, including many recipes. Part II is a guide to maintaining a “healthful and economical home”, with chapters on health and exercise. Part III advises on good habits and manners that should be cultivated, care of sick and aged occupants, raising children, and care of domestic animals. Also covered in various places are family religious training, gardening, sewing, first aid, management of lamps and candles, laundry care, and various other topics.

Community Cookbooks – An Online Collection

This collection at the U.S. Library of Congress contains cookbooks that were mostly created by local women’s groups raising money for a cause. They can be browsed by U.S. region (Midwest, Northeast, South or West), and by time frame. All cookbooks were apparently published between 1860 and 1929.

Little Cook Books PDF Collection

Little Cookbooks contains thousands of food and cookery related publications produced primarily by companies in the United States from the late nineteenth century up to the present. The collection provides a rich resource to study the evolution and history of advertising, food products, individual companies, technology, food preparation, and food production.

Little Cookbooks is an ongoing project. Check the box “Display only full text items” in the left column to filter out the cookbooks not yet scanned.

Feeding Michigan Collection

Feeding Michigan is a digital archive of 68 cookbooks from the Michigan State University Libraries’ collection, which were published in Michigan or produced by Michigan communities, organizations, churches, or individuals dating back to the late nineteenth century.

Culinary Institute of America Menu Collection

The Culinary Institute of America’s special collection of over 40,000 historical menus includes menus from CIA restaurants and donations from major menu collectors. Assembled over decades, the collection illustrates the history of dining in America and abroad, with menus from all of the U.S. states and over 80 countries, as well as ships, railroads and airlines. The collection is still being digitized, so not all menus are yet online.

Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking, Adapted to Persons of Moderate and Small Means

Abel, Mrs M. W. (Hinman)

American Public Health Association 1890

States clearly food values and proper methods of preparation; gives recipes, bills of fare and prices. – American Library Association Catalog 1904.

The Young House-Keeper, or Thoughts on Food and Cookery

Alcott, William A.

Boston: Light 1838

Menus from History: Historic Meals and Recipes for Every Day of the Year (Vol 1)

Vol 2

Clarkson, Janet

Greenwood Press/ABC-CLIO 2009

A year’s worth of fascinating menus from significant occasions in history around the world offer a thoroughly delightful way to learn more about noteworthy events and people, social classes, and morés.

The Professed Cook: or, the Modern Art of Cookery, Pastry, and Confectionary …

made plain and easy, consisting of the most approved methods in the French as well as English Cookery, in which the French names of all the different dishes are given and explained, whereby every Bill of Fare becomes intelligible and familiar

Clermont, B.

London: Davis 1776

18th Century Cooking book, one of the oldest available.

Good Things To Eat, as Suggested by Rufus

Estes, Rufus

Chicago: Estes 1911

“Estes’ cookery book was not the first to be published by an African American – that would be Robert Roberts’ The House Servant’s Directory from 1827. But where Roberts publishes recipes for the wealthy New England families he’s accustomed to working for, Estes offers the recipes for foods he’s been eating his whole life. And what a life he had – born into slavery in 1857, a train porter with the Pullman Company, and eventually a chef. The incredible range of recipes includes everything from Southern Corncakes, Apple Slump and Rib Roast, to Candied Violets, Kedgeree, and Sheep’s Brains with Small Onions.”
– Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book PDF

Farmer, Fannie Merritt

Boston: Little, Brown 1896

“It is thanks to Fannie Farmer that we have detailed, step-by-step instructions in cookery books that use standardized measurements for ingredients. Emerging at the height of the domestic science movement in the United States that sought consistency and uniformity in cooking practices, Farmer revolutionized the cookbook industry. Just as later writers such as Julia Child or Harold McGee, Fannie Farmer didn’t just explain how to do something, she explained why – describing in some cases the chemical processes that make a recipe work.” – Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy

Glasse, Hannah

London: 1774?

“The bestselling English-language cookery book for over a century, and its import and influence on early American cooking can’t be overstated. It could be found in homes from all thirteen colonies including many of the Founding Fathers, and sales of the book continued well after the Revolution.” “The popularity of the book came, in large part, from the way Glasse wrote the recipes so that an untrained cook would likely understand.” – Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

Marion Harland’s Complete Cook Book – Marian Harland’s Old Recipe Book PDF

Harland, Marion

Merrill 1903

A practical and exhaustive manual of cookery and housekeeping, containing thousands of carefully proved recipes. – American Library Association Catalog 1904.

The Hostess of To-day

Larned, Mrs Linda (Hull)

Scribner 1899

Suggestions as to table service, formal and informal dinners, luncheons, teas, etc. Many compact recipes with approximate prices. – American Library Association Catalog 1904.

Miss Parloa’s Young Housekeeper; Designed Especially to Aid Beginners. Economical receipts for those who are cooking for two or three

Parloa, Maria

Estes 1894

Miss Parloa’s old recipe book pdf.

The Virginia Housewife, or, Methodical Cook

Randolph, Mary

Baltimore: Plaskitt 1836

“To this day, Randolph’s book is referenced by chefs and cookbook writers as an inspiration for authentic southern cuisine. Considered the first regional American cookery book, it offers the first printed recipes for barbecued pork, okra soup, and a host of other traditional southern recipes. She doesn’t stick exclusively to the south, however. Her recipes include Italian, Spanish, French and Caribbean dishes that reflect the cosmopolitan palates of a growing nation.” – Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

The Epicurean

Ranhofer, Charles

Chicago: 1894

“If you wanted the epitome of fine dining in the United States, for over a century Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City was where you went. During the late Victorian period, Delmonico’s hosted dinners for presidents like Ulysses S. Grant, and writers like Charles Dickens. Known for their unique and ornate presentations, the most elaborate of dishes was prepared under the masterful eye of chef Charles Ranhofer. This massive, heavily-illustrated tome, contains mostly classic French recipes, reflecting the impact of French cuisine among the upper class at the turn of the century.” – Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

The Confederate Receipt Book: A Compilation of Over One Hundred Receipts, Adapted to the Times

West & Johnston

Richmond, VA: West & Johnston 1863

“Even the most frugal cooks found it difficult to put food on the table under the Confederacy. Naval blockades prevented most foods from reaching the South, who was more used to growing cotton and tobacco than food. Cooks needed to adapt their recipes to what was readily available, and this booklet offered suggestions such as adding starchy rice or potatoes to breads to reduce the amount of flour needed. It was printed in Richmond, Virgina on polka-dot wallpaper since regular paper was in short supply.”- Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol

Burns, Eric

Temple Univ. 2004

Burns “presents an enjoyable and informative examination of the role of alcoholic beverages in American society.” -Library Journal. Beverage book.

The Joy of Drinking

Holland, Barbara

Bloomsbury 2007

“Mixing fact, fable, anecdote, and personal opinion with irresistible panache, cultural historian Barbara Holland’s book distills thousands of years of humankind’s lusty relationship with alcohol … into a slim, sparkling history.” -Elle.

How to Mix Drinks, Or, The Bon-Vivant’s Companion

Containing clear and reliable directions for mixing all the beverages used in the United States, together with the most popular British, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish recipes, embracing punches, juleps, cobblers, etc. etc.

Thomas, Jerry

NY: Dick & Fitzgerald 1862

“As the first major recipe book exclusively on cocktails published in the United States, this volume has achieved mythic status for modern-day mixologists. Also known as The Bar-Tender’s Guide, this book offers the basic approaches to making cocktails that is still used today.” – Eric Colleary, “The American Table” website.

These Century Past Pages May Be of Interest

Regional and Ethnic Cookbooks

Books about Food and the Food Industry

Food and Cooking Magazines

Articles about Popular Culture in History

Sewing and Needlework Magazines

Hobbies, Crafts and Railroad Magazines