ASSONET, Mass. — Rare, old and out-of-print cookbooks appeal to collectors, as well as chefs, home cooks, cookbook readers and families trying to find a much-loved old family recipe. Eagle Trading Co. owner Chuck Williams said it’s also not uncommon for families to come into his cookbook store in search of a second copy of a favorite family cookbook.

In fact, helping families connect with treasured but long-lost recipes is one of the many joys of owning a bookstore devoted solely to those hard-to-find cookbooks, said Williams, who will be speaking about cookbooks at the Dartmouth Grange in a few weeks.

Additional Photos

Eagle Trading Co. owner Chuck Williams holds one of his favorite old cookbooks at his store in Assonet, Mass. He and his store are solely devoted to finding and selling out-of-print and hard-to-find cookbooks. Photos by Dave Souza/The Herald News

“The International Cookbook,” published by the Fall River Herald News in 1929, has recipes from chefs around the world.

Fall River native Yvonne Coppinger and her daughter Louise Guglielmo came across just such a book at Coppinger’s apartment recently when Guglielmo was helping her mother sort through old books. “The International Cookbook,” a collection of recipes and entertaining tips from chefs around the world, bears the name of The Herald News.

Published in 1929, and signed by chef A. Eckert from the Hotel Belleville in Dresden, Germany, the book originally belonged to Coppinger’s late husband’s aunt Eva McCabe, Coppinger said.

The book, a treasure trove of hundreds of recipes from chefs around the world, as well as tips for entertaining, proper cooking and serving techniques, and the stuff of home economics classes from days gone by, was a favorite read for Guglielmo when she was a kid.

“I remember going through the book as a little girl,” she said, as she leafed through the pages of the worn book.

Though it appears to be a recipe book compiled by the editors at The Herald News in the 1920s, Williams said it was a common practice for cookbook authors and printers to make bindings with newspaper and other business names on the covers that those businesses would sell to their customers.

A well-known example, he said, is The Hood Basic Cookbook, published in the late 1940s, that was also printed with the Sears and Roebuck name on its cover.

Though he wouldn’t say how much Coppinger’s Herald News version of the “The International Cookbook” might be worth, Williams said it is a rare book, and one that another customer asked about recently.

Williams, who opened the Eagle Trading Co. about 10 years ago, said he also has serious cookbook collectors who are looking for the rarest of rare finds in the cookbook world: first editions of “The Joy of Cooking,” “Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook” and the one of the first recognized cookbooks, “Mrs. Beecher’s Housekeeping,” by Catherine Beecher, sister of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” author Harriet Beecher Stowe.

And yes, Williams does own all three of those rare cookbooks, though they’re stored off the premises under lock and key awaiting the right buyer, he said. “I have serious collectors who call me and tell me what they’re looking for,” said.

A more contemporary but rare cookbook at the store is a signed copy of “The Black Hat Chef Cookbook” by Chef Rene, published in 1988. Chef Rene, as he is known, is one of only a few black hat chefs in the country, said Williams. A black hat chef is one who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, went on to study at Le Cordon Bleu, in Paris and then prepared a dish for the queen of England and the emperor of Japan, Williams said.

Though unlike many booksellers these days, Williams said he doesn’t sell his books online, instead preferring face-to-face contact with his customers. “I have one lady who comes here all the way from Connecticut. She calls the store her tonic,” he said.

Other customers come in looking for the latest trends in cooking and cookbooks, which these days include “The Swamp People” television show cookbook (he has a signed copy), as well as charcuterie, the European-style of making deli meats, and smoked foods.

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