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photo by: Peter Frank Edwards
A few years back, we opened a cookbook shop called, Heirloom.
It was located on King Street in Charleston, SC and it was lovely.
During that time I met loads of chefs and other cookbook authors... and was able to indulge, everyday, in reading “the literature of food” to my heart's content.
Life has gone through many iterations since then, but my love & knowledge of cookbooks has stayed the same. After Heirloom closed, it made me really sad to think all the culinary fun we unearthed would be forgotten…
I’ve complied this website as a little act of literary/culinary preservation.
It is visual showcase of all the cookbooks that have passed my way over the years.
Below you’ll find culinary lit to satisfy the appetite of any vintage and variety…
Scroll through the collection below & enjoy!
The Literature of Food
A collection of vintage, rare, and antiquarian cookbooks
complied by Carlye Jane Dougherty
The Literature of Food
A collection of vintage, rare, and antiquarian cookbooks
complied by Carlye Jane Dougherty
THE COLLECTION
Broken into visual chapters.
Keep scrolling down or jump around to different chapters with the dots to the right —>
The books you’ll see are not currently for sale but, if they whet your appetite, we’re always happy to search one out for you!
Cocktails
Cocktails
COCKTAILS & MIXOLOGY
“I choose to start with cocktails because no great story ever started with a salad.”
Below are covers of all the Cocktail Books we came across during the Heirloom days.
It was with emotions mixed like drinks we saw the cocktail trend take off and with it watched many of our treasured mixology books fly the coop... C'est live.
A few, we still have. Many, we sold. All that we sold, we secretly kind of regret letting go of.
In the light of youthful entrepreneurship, it's easy to dismiss the bird in hand because you think there are surely to be more in the bush- who knew we'd make cocktail books so hard to find!
Good thing we're all good drinkers with memories like pink elephants!
Below are the books taught us how to sling drinks and sip spirits with the best of them. From liquors and bitters to coups and carts, these books made sure that invitations for libations at our houses are never declined!
Playing Hostess
Playing Hostess
PLAYING HOSTESS
“Never miss a party... good for the nerves—like celery. ”
Manly Pursuits
Francis Mallmann via Netflix’s A Chef’s Table
Manly Pursuits
Francis Mallmann via Netflix’s A Chef’s Table
MANLY PURSUITS
“Here with the cinders crackling and the fat dripping down like candle wax and the splayed ribs of the lamb starting to look like a glistening harp, it’s easy to regress to the mind-set of a 12-year-old boy. You eat with your hands. You toss sticks into the fire.”
Cheeky
Mary-Louise Parker Bakes a Pie for Esquire Magazine
Cheeky
Mary-Louise Parker Bakes a Pie for Esquire Magazine
“Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want.”
Kistch & Curiosity
Kistch & Curiosity
KISTCH & CURIOSITY
“kitsch /kiCH/ noun
Art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way.”
The Age of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius
THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. ”
French
French
FRENCH
“A menu composed of preparations that are not in themselves French may remain totally French in spirit, for it is the degree to which it is based on a sensuous and aesthetic concept that differentiates a French meal from all others. ”
The Food Writers
Famed Food writers
The Food Writers
Famed Food writers
FOOD WRITERS
“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.”
The Fundamentals
The Fundamentals
THE FUNDAMENTALS
“But I do think the idea that basic cooking skills are a virtue, that the ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill, should become as vital to growing up as learning to wipe one’s own ass, cross the street by oneself, or be trusted with money. ”
From Escoffier to Julia Child, these cookbooks and authors have laid the foundation for how we eat & cook today. They shaped the way we read & write our cookbooks...
All The Fish In The Sea
Noma, Copenhagen
All The Fish In The Sea
Noma, Copenhagen
“Fish, to taste right, must swim three times -in water, in butter, and in wine.”
Kill to the Kitchern
Cookbooks for the Outdoor-sey Types
Kill to the Kitchern
Cookbooks for the Outdoor-sey Types
Jewish Cookbooks
Jewish Cookbooks
Jewish Cookbooks
Jewish Cookbooks
“No bakery can include the ingredient of affection that a Jewish mother adds to her batter. Although her efforts will be quickly devoured, the crumbs of loving memory will remain.”
The Working Girls
The Working Girls
“Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition... ”
One Bite at a Time
One Bite at a Time
ONE BITE AT A TIME
“When reached for comment on the charges, Martha didn’t say much, (only) that a subpoena should be served with a nice appetizer.”
Modern Day Classics
Modern Day Classics
“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers”
Rationing + Victory Gardens
Rationing + Victory Gardens
RATIONING + VICTORY GARDEN COOKBOOKS
“Get a War Garden Going... Beans are bullets—Potatoes are powder”
Hotels, Clubs & Restaurants
Cookbooks of Famed Hotels, Restaurants & Private Clubs
Hotels, Clubs & Restaurants
Cookbooks of Famed Hotels, Restaurants & Private Clubs
Continentals
Continentals
Occidentals
Non-American Food from the West
Occidentals
Non-American Food from the West
The Near East
Vintage cookbooks of the Near East, Middle East & Arabia.
The Near East
Vintage cookbooks of the Near East, Middle East & Arabia.
The Far East
The Far East
“Talk doesn’t cook rice.”
The Sweet Stuff
The Sweet Stuff
“I could be hit by a Sara Lee truck tomorrow. Which is not a bad way of going: ‘Richard Simmons Found in a Freeway in Pound Cake and Fudge, With a Smile on His Face.’ Let’s face it. We don’t know anything. ”
A Feast for the Eyes
A Feast for the Eyes
“Any well seasoned restaurant owner knows that you always have a bowl of mints for customers as they walk out the door because you never want someone to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.
This last collection is my bowl of visual mints.”
Contact
Contact
Carlye Jane Dougherty | 843-469-1717 | carlyejane@literatureoffood.com
