Satisfying Your Cookbook Addiction for Less
A good cookbook reads like a novel, sometimes it’s an adventure story taking you to new lands, other times it’s a historical thriller uncovering a long lost recipe. But cookbooks can be expensive, sometimes running $50 or more. Though the growth of online book selling has made prices more competitive, buying used books can save you even more. Here are some money saving tips on how to find your next favorite cookbook.
When shopping on Amazon, be sure to check if there are used copies available. That information is near the top of the book’s product information page, a few lines below the place where they tell you if the book in stock. Clicking where it says “used” takes you to a page of third-party sellers offering your book. Next, click the “used” tab at the top of the list. This shows all the used copies available in order of price, plus shipping. When you buy used books on Amazon, you’re not buying from Amazon itself. You’re buying from one of their Marketplace or Merchant sellers. However, you pay through the Amazon website and Amazon guarantees your purchase making it convenient and secure.
Let’s look at an example: At press time, Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics was number 9 on the Amazon Cookbook Bestseller List. The cover price new is $35, Amazon has it new for $22.30, but you can get it used for $15.25 plus shipping. That’s almost 50% off just for clicking over to another page. Another useful web site for hunting down used cookbooks is BookFinder. It searches over 90 online booksellers in the US, UK and Europe (including Amazon, Ebay, Abebooks and many more) and aggregates the results on one page with prices and estimated shipping costs. Once you’ve found what you want, click through to the seller’s site and purchase it from there.
If you like old or out-of-print cookbooks, then shopping online is even more economical. The spine has finally cracked on my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. It’s an old hardcover printed in 1967 that I bought in a used bookstore. According to BookFinder, I can replace it with the exact same edition for $2.45 plus $3.99 shipping. Another search returned that James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking was available for just $1 plus $3.99 shipping.
If it seems silly to pay more for shipping than the book, then try buying in person at a good used bookstore. This also affords you the one thing online booksellers have yet to duplicate, the accidental joy of serendipity that comes with browsing. Strand Books on Broadway at East 12th Street has the largest selection of used cookbooks I’ve seen in New York, including out-of-print treasures for as little as $5. They also have new cookbooks at a discount and on the lower level, a small selection of review copies of new cookbooks for 50% off. You can even order online and pick up your books in person. The only downside to buying used cookbooks is having to find more bookshelf space.
Happy shopping!
Photo by Gaetan Lee
By Kathryn McGowan on April 22, 2009 | 0
Comments
Leave a Comment
