Wow, someone did a wonderful job restoring your grandmother's book.

~Ann

Looks like a nice bit of re-casing (or was it rebinding? Do tell). Now it can last another 70 years (or more).

They are new covers and spine. Is that rebinding? They tried to make it look as much as the original as possible without me having to pay any extra above the regular fee of $45.

I hope you kept the original cover.

Sally

Debra, that's re-casing. Rebinding would have entailed taking everything apart and resewing it (which would have cost a fortune). It's often enough to re-case old books - a new spine covering generally tightens everything up and new covers can make such a difference.

Did you know that The American Woman's Cookbook is the fourth best selling cookbook in history? I still have my mom's 1941 edition of it.

It's great that you preserved it so you can continue to use it. Lots of good basic recipes in there.

I do have the original cover but what to do with it? My mom says to toss it. On the inside of the covers there is a photo of candies. I used to stare at these as a child. On the front inside cover the photo of the candies extends to the first page which I have. A friend said she would attempt to paste the page onto the first page. I'm not sure what to do with it.

Thanks for letting me know it is called "re-casing".

ruthanna, thats cool about the book. I do not know much about it.

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Mon, Feb 17, 14 at 17:27

Debra, I have an idea for you. If you don't want to toss the cover, here's what you could do: Make a coptic-bound recipe notebook or a scrapbook and use the front and back covers for that. The technique is simple and the results can be quite impressive.

As for the spine, you could gently clean off the cardboard from the back, glue a nice picture (thin paper) onto the back instead, get it laminated and use it as a bookmark for the re-cased cookbook. I did this with the spine covering from an old book of detective stories I rebound some years ago that had some nice artwork on it and it's one of my favourite bookmarks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coptic bookbinding

Cool idea!

You lost me on the spine but couldn't I just drill holes in the cover as in the link you attached?

What a wonderful thing to do.

My Mom had a cookbook she brought with her from Germany and always used. About 10 years ago, it was falling apart. Being in the printing business, I had it re-bound for her. The front cover was gone so the bindery house created a new one for it. She was thrilled and now that she is gone, I am so glad to have. Her notes and fingerprints are all over it.

Cherish your grandmothers!

I already gave instructions to my husband and my daughter that if something happens to me, my daughter is to have that cookbook. Just to make sure it gets passed down.

You could frame the old covers in a shadow box. I would hate to see them tossed.

It's cool you are now able to use the book, as that's what it's for. What a wonderful memorial to your mother.

I like Kitchendetective's idea. The cover could make a great picture/wall hanging for your kitchen.

Sally

I'd frame it too ! I have a picture that I took of my grandmother's wonderful old kitchen. I'm going to have it made into a poster for my kitchen wall. It will be like walking into Grandma's beloved kitchen again.

Hi,
Could you please tell me the name of the place that did the restoration for you, and provide a link if possible?

Thanks!
Mace

What a wonderful treasure. So sweet to pass it down to your daughter too.
Mary

I would frame the old cover too!

Moni

They did a beautiful job, Debra.
I really like the idea of a frame or shadow-box for the original covers.

I love handmade books and I loved that coptic book binding, but boy oh boy, not for this klutz! :) I wish I had the patience for such things though. I adore origami too but have never been able to do it. I would do a shadow box. Do you have anything else from back then, like a salt shaker or matchbox or something. I have all of grandma and bubbe's old stuff, mom threw it out and I salvaged it. It is worn as can be but I still hang on to using it. Sadly I have no next generation to hand it down to. I could give it to cousins' kids but not sure what they would want with all this worn out old stuff anyway, since they have no memories from it.