I will give some backstory first.
From 1931 to 1958 there was a cookbook published in Topeka, Kansas, called The Household Searchlight Recipe Book…It went through twenty-eight printings. The editors are all long gone, the publisher is no more, but back in the day it sold a lot of copies, locally at least. The first printing had only 2500 copies, but it went way up as time passed.
Now, I am a collector of this book, and lack one printing, the ninth. Later printings list that there were well over one hundred thousand copies made, but I have been unable to find one, and am beginning to suspect there was some kind of notation error made.
Nelieve me when I say I have searched diligently. I have scoured the internet, searching numerous websites. I found a mint condition copy of the first printing in a bookstore in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and paid $100 for it, the most expensive to date.
It is relatively easy to find all of the other printings. When I search 1936 is the year for the eighth printing, and 1937 copies usually say they are the tenth printing. I do know that a couple years had more than one printing, but not many. In 1937 a seperate but related book, a homemaking guide, was published, and perhaps this is what was meant by the ninth printing, but I doubt it.
I have been to our public library, which has a special room for Topeka related history items, but though they have several copies, they have not been able to enlighten me on this subject. There is an online bookstore I have communicated with, and a Facebook page dedicated to all things Topekan, but so far, nothing.
Does anyone have advice on what else I might do to aid my search? I am not sure where I can go from here.
