I also have quite a collection of old cookbooks (thank you Mom!) from the likes of Betty Crocker (2), Fanny Farmer and at least a dozen old Sunset books. I love these books but rarely, if ever, cook from them. I use them as a reference point sometimes (most the Sunset books) but the recipes themselves just don't seem to fit my style of cooking. Flipping through the pages, however, is fascinating. Especially the Betty Crocker books-I love the illustrations, photos and food styling.

I have an old Crock Pot cookbook that my mom gave me, and I cook from it. There are a few recipes that call for MSG, which makes me giggle.

I have a Joy of Cooking from 1953 that's falling apart and a cute "Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two" from 1958. The illustrations in the latter are so cute! Have used the "Joy" (it's my only copy) but don't know if I've ever used the other. Too many cookbooks to choose from on my shelf!

Foods of the World is a brilliant collection -- I am slowly trying to collect it. The recipes really are authentic, and I have made lots of things from the ones I have.

I cook from Ada Boni's Regional Italian Cooking. The edition is old (1969) and the pictures of the food are hardly flattering (didn't anyone know about food staging back then?), but the recipes are fantastic.

When I started dating my SO, I saw the same recipe book in his mother's kitchen (she's an excellent traditional italian cook) and knew I was doing something right :)

I've got a Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery from the 40s that I use when I'm craving my grandmother's cooking, since it was the same cookbook she used.

I have a Joy of Cooking from the 60's, which I refer to quite often for the section of excellent and classic cocktails. (The drinks section was omitted from newer versions why?) It also contains loads of vintage recipes that are delicious and have simply fallen out of favor. I have a new edition also, and my mom is fully aware that I have dibs on her mid-70's version whenever she's done with it.

My copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Vol. I only) is a copy from the 60's as well. Both of these books were souvenirs from my first and only trip to California. Would that I had more bookshelf space for more cookbooks, vintage or no!

ABreadADay.com

I'm going to second the Time Life Foods of the World. I received quite a culinary education as a child in the 80s as my mom worked her way through many of these. I love Asian food and my husband is from the former USSR and I find the cookbooks in this series that I have (given to me by my mom and grandmother), to be (mostly) authentic and straightforward recipes that are fun and easy to cook and adapt to my own tastes.

my mother bought me a new copy of fannie farmer when i married (2006); the first time i went to her house after this, i traded this new version for her older (50s?) version! Don't know if she has ever noticed...mom is not a cook!

My mom has the Time Life Foods of the World -- I wish she would give me the set! I do have many of the recipes though. The headnotes are really interesting and while some of the recipes are a bit rich, they can easily be updated.

I also have a couple old dessert cookbooks from my grandmother. I skip all the jello, but otherwise, they're great!

I've got two copies of that Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. One that I bought new when I moved out on my own and one that I later inherited from my grandparents. Some of the recipes are the same but some are different.

I love Craig Claibourne's New York Times cookbook from the 1960's. The coq au vin turned out divine! Sunset books from the 80's are also great!

Yikes...you are calling circa 1970 cookbooks vintage!

The books pictured are mostly reference books, which were accompanied by smaller, coil-bound cookbooks, which I do use.

The best duo is the Middle Eastern Cooking. The felafel and the tabbouleh recipes in that cookbook are golden.

I would love to have some of this stuff, but nobody in the family has any and I've just not gone out and looked. I do, however, have my grandmother's recipe collection, including her recipe for vermicelli, red velvet cake and a bunch of old 'back of the box' recipes.

I have a somewhat compulsive character when it comes to rescuing books. I love finding cookbooks with amazing illustrations. One of my favorite books of cookie recipes has photos of a toddler-sized doll "baking" and arranging cookies and the like. Too too disturbing.

The recipes are great though! One of the things I like best is that cookies aren't GARGANTUAN in size. The text talks about using two teaspoons to dollop them out, not an ice cream scoop. Sheesh.

I wanted to share a link to the http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/index.html ">Feeding America website for the Historic American Cookbook Project. Interesting stuff.

One of my favorite more recent books reinterprets traditional Southern American baking and prints the old recipies too. Anyone's guess as to what a "slow oven" is - imagine trying to interpret recipes written for wood or coal stoves!

So I guess the short answer is yes, yes I do.

My grandmother has a ridiculously large collection of vintage cookbooks. My mom and I have been discussing what to do with them when the time comes. They're something cool that I don't have room for, and would love to see go to a good home. I'm open to ideas that don't involve Ebay. Maybe some could be donated to a food blog as contest prizes or something? I don't know. I want to be creative and I'm failing.

I always use old cookbooks when I'm searching for recipes. I inherited a lot of my mom's collection when she purged her cookbook shelf (more like an entire bookcase).
I frequently use:
The Joy of Cooking (1967)
Craig Claibourne's The New New York Times cookbook
Graham Kerr Cookbook by the Galloping Gourmet
Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 2 (1968)
More with Less
Penniless Vegetarian
and my mom's Home Economics text book from 1955

I also collect vintage recipe books that are published by food companies. I just picked up "Man Pleasing Recipes" published by the American Rice Board this weekend at a garage sale. They are great little books with a lot of neat tips and tricks. Sure, the recipes aren't always the healthiest, but you can usually interpret them and adapt to a more healthful version.

My favourite cookbooks are the ones put together by community churches or small towns. They always have great family recipes that have been passed down for generations. Some of the best cookie recipes come from those books.

We have had the Time-Life series from the beginning and love many of the recipes. Our favorite is salmon cooked in pastry. You just pour tons of butter through the vent holes in the pastry. Great for a party, and fit for the Czar.

The chocolate mousse recipe from Joy of Cooking (1970) is the best ever. My daughter has been making it since she was about 10 years old.

I also use Bernard Clayton's Book of Breads for the challah recipe.

If the food was good back then, why wouldn't it be good now?

as a pre-wedding gift, i received (along with a handed-down recipe box of family favorites) the pennsylvania dutch cook book (1948) and bach for more: fireside classics (a fundraiser for the cleveland orchestra, 1974). i also picked up the outdoor barbecue cook book (1957) and pies men like (1953) along the way. they're all pretty great. the ones i really want (which my mom won't give up because they're out of print) are the nitty gritty series. vintage church ladies' cookbooks are often a great resource too, and can be found for about a quarter at garage sales and junk stores.

Being in my early 20s, I consider my mum's collection of 1980s cookbooks vintage. I rarely cook the mains from them (the pictures from the 1970s/80s put me off, as well as the ingredients- chicken livers? No way)

However I LOVE my mum's Women's Weekly cookbooks from the 80s- classic biscuits, cakes and the mandatory childrens birthday cake cookbook from which many of my childhood birtday cakes were taken- everyone I know has a copy of this at home.

My own awakening to fine cooking came in the form of a Vincent Price (the late star of classic horror movies was also a gourmet) cookbook that my mother won as part of a sales promotion. The pictures alone took me to far away, elegant places. I now have that in my possession and it is still lovely enough to reside on the coffee table. A real treasure.

My mother even had Mr. Price autograph it for her when he came into town on a book tour.

KimberlyM, consider donating them to a library that has a lively section for food arts. I know the Los Angeles Public Library has a treasure trove of vintage cookbooks and many rare cookbooks.

If you're not in California and would prefer to keep the books closer to home, Google "culinary historians" and your region to find someone nearby who might have some ideas of where the collection could go.

I have a collection of old BH&G cookbooks that were handed down/purchased at thrift stores. I read from those more than I cook - I think a lot of the recipes (especially from the 50s and 60s) are a little too ridiculous to cook. There's a recipe for HAM LOAF that sends me giggling just thinking about it.

Otherwise, I have a lot of Mississippi cookbooks passed down from my Grandmother that I have enjoyed cooking from, mostly because it gives me a chance to feel closer to her and to my family. I have her Joy of Cooking, too, and love reading all of the notes in the margins.

Google Books has many VERY vintage cookbooks from the turn of the century and earlier, including the first version of the Fannie Farmer book from 1916. Interesting reading.

Here's the search I did for "cooking" - full view only.

http://books.google.com/books?q=cooking&as_brr=1

My Norwegian Grandmother gave me a cookbook that she brought when she came to America. It's been fun veganizing the recipes!

My father gave me his mother's 1924 edition of "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" by Fannie Farmer with instructions to "never, ever give it away." Not a problem!

I've used it more since moving to France, probably b/c some of the ingredients that can be more challenging to find in the U.S. (especially game birds and different cuts of duck & rabbit) are readily available at my local butcher shop. One of the challenges (in a rather fun way) is that the baking recipes only say "bake in a hot oven" or "bake in a slow oven" - I've gotten pretty good at guesstimating temperatures.

Another here who loves the Time Life series - the Paella is the best I have ever found.

I use my mom's 1965 Better Homes and Gardens all the time. She's also written in family recipes for me, and it has great pictures!

My mom still uses her mother's cookbook of Polish recipes for sweet and sour cabbage during the holidays. I can remember flipping through it as a kid to ew over the cow tongue and head cheese recipes. It was such a treat to hold - every time we picked up it we'd find various news clippings and pressed flowers between the pages, with a fair amount of four leaf clovers too!

Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Time Life: Italy for risotto
Yan Can Cook

My mom swears by her Betty Crocker Cookbook from her grandmother. And I occasionally use an edition of Better Homes and gardens which belonged to my great-grandmother and my grandmother. The only thing about these old recipes is I often have to retool them for my vegetarian husband. But I really like the sections on how to entertain and to set tables for different events. The etiquette section is always fun to read too.

i always loved cooking from my mom's vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook. She gave me a modern copy when I left the nest, but it's just not quite the same!

My mom and grandmother both still have all of thier cookbooks. However I recently purchased a house that was owned by I'm guessing a food lover as well. They left behind a treasure trove of cookbooks in the basement. Some of them have copyright dates from the 40's, there is of course Julia Childs cookbooks from 60's as well. I plan on going through them when the colder weather gets here.

Oh, I love my older cookbooks! I must admit that I mainly cook out of them in the winter since the food is heavier, but it's always tasty.

My favorites:

The Betty Crocker Cookbook-I have two, my Grandmother's from the 1950's (it's in a binder) and my Mom's from the late 1960's. I also have a Betty Crocker pie book and a cookie book from the 60's.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Craig Claiborne's The New New York Times Cookbook Vol. 1 & 2

The Illustrated Better Homes & Garden's Cookbook

More with Less

The Mennonite Community Cookbook