# I need advice on searching for a book **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853 "2019-06-21T17:02:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/1 "2019-06-21T17:02:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/2 "2019-06-21T18:02:52Z")
I’ve never heard of this book before but the pain of having one item missing from a complete collection triggers my OCD. I found this listing on Ebay that shows clearly, “Eighth Printing 1935.” [https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-HOUSEHOLD-SEARCHLIGHT-RECIPE-BOOK-EIGHTH-PRINTING-1935/223292464038?hash=item33fd449ba6:g:KcwAAOSwACRasoNx](https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-HOUSEHOLD-SEARCHLIGHT-RECIPE-BOOK-EIGHTH-PRINTING-1935/223292464038?hash=item33fd449ba6:g:KcwAAOSwACRasoNx) If that’s the case, the 1936 printing was probably actually the ninth printing but was misprinted to also say “Eighth printing.” When they did the tenth printing in 1937, they correctly labelled it as the tenth printing, thus never producing a ninth edition that reads “Ninth printing.” Perhaps, despite never producing a printing that actually read “Ninth printing,” when they later reported the printing totals, they correctly listed the total for the ninth printing (even though they had all been mislabeled “eighth.”) There are some visible pages on that ebay listing. If you compare it to your copy of the 1935 seventh printing and your 1936 eighth printing, you might be able to conclude that don’t have this book and you need it for your collection in any event. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/3 "2019-06-21T23:12:07Z")
Have you tried [biblio.com](http://biblio.com)? I have success getting weird old economics books for my daughter there. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/4 "2019-06-22T00:04:22Z")
“The Household Searchlight” rocks! I love those books, to the point where I purchased two copies for my nieces, one of whom loves to cook and the other is meh about the whole thing. However, it’s great for people who want to cook from scratch, especially if you want to make creamed calf brains. 😃 My own personal copy is the 23rd edition, from 1952. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/5 "2019-06-22T01:45:12Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > “The Household Searchlight” rocks! I love those books, to the point where I purchased two copies for my nieces, one of whom loves to cook and the other is meh about the whole thing. However, it’s great for people who want to cook from scratch, especially if you want to make creamed calf brains. 😃 > > My own personal copy is the 23rd edition, from 1952. My very first copy was the fourteenth, and belonged to my maternal grandmother. It has her handwriting in the end papers, and she stuck some other recipes in there. When the last of the editors was still alive, Irene Nunemaker, my mother got to visit her in the nursing home, and she signed several copies for my mother. Ms. Nunemaker is listed as Irene Westbrook in very early printings, the she married. My mother remembers the house with the test kitchen, but it is gone now. \*\* nearwildheaven\*\*, if you want an earlier copy, with the original style of cover, I have a couple extras. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/6 "2019-06-22T01:48:42Z")
**Tired and Cranky** , that is very interesting, I have never seen that. I am going to contact the seller and ask about it. **Voyager** , I have tried that site, but not in a while, I will go back and try again. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/7 "2019-06-22T02:01:57Z")
Former (retired) library cataloger here, and I’ve seen a lot of weird and anomalous dates on books. I think **Tired and Cranky** ’s theory is almost certainly the correct explanation: there was another print run and nobody noticed that the printing number on it was wrong until it was too late. Errors like that aren’t unusual at all. That is much more likely than the idea that there was something specifically labeled “ninth printing,” but no copies of it have ever turned up anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/8 "2019-06-22T02:06:17Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Former (retired) library cataloger here, and I’ve seen a lot of weird and anomalous dates on books. I think **Tired and Cranky** ’s theory is almost certainly the correct explanation: there was another print run and nobody noticed that the printing number on it was wrong until it was too late. Errors like that aren’t unusual at all. That is much more likely than the idea that there was something specifically labeled “ninth printing,” but no copies of it have ever turned up anywhere. I have contacted the seller and will be waiting for a reply. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/9 "2019-06-22T02:55:30Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > My very first copy was the fourteenth, and belonged to my maternal grandmother. It has her handwriting in the end papers, and she stuck some other recipes in there. When the last of the editors was still alive, Irene Nunemaker, my mother got to visit her in the nursing home, and she signed several copies for my mother. Ms. Nunemaker is listed as Irene Westbrook in very early printings, the she married. > > My mother remembers the house with the test kitchen, but it is gone now. \*\* nearwildheaven\*\*, if you want an earlier copy, with the original style of cover, I have a couple extras. All of the original writers had master’s degrees, which was remarkable enough for anyone in that era, but especially for women. Oh, that’s OK. The one I have is fine (and IIRC, I paid $1 for it). ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/10 "2019-06-22T03:06:12Z")
Okay, but if you change your mind! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/11 "2019-06-22T03:31:24Z")
I usually start with [bookfinder.com](http://bookfinder.com). It’s a metasearch site that searches biblio and abebook and alibris and Amazon and a couple of dozen others, including eBay. Putting in the keyword “ninth” brings up nothing, but using “eighth” finds the eBay listing that Tired and Cranky gave. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/12 "2019-06-22T07:26:59Z")
Gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you buy the copy in that ebay listing, your collection will be complete and you can declare victory. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/13 "2019-06-22T11:32:36Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you buy the copy in that ebay listing, your collection will be complete and you can declare victory. That is what I am thinking. I am just waiting for a reply from the seller now, ton confirm that it is both eighth and 1935. I searched aroune some more and found one other like that, something I never noticed before, and have queried that seller as well. I love the Doipe! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/14 "2019-06-22T18:50:39Z")
Like I said, I _ **love** _ the Dope! The comments in this thread caused me to look more closely at the printings, and the years they appeared in. I had mainly been checking printing numbers, not years. So I went over the books, one by one. Part of the set is at my house, part with my mom, in her house. And much to my surprise, the two copies of the eighth printing were in seperate years, 1935 and 1936. So the collection is complete!!! I do not know how I missed seeing this, I thought I knew this collection better than that. **erysichthon** , you know your stuff! I also detected two other misprints. Both the 27th and 28th copies are listed as 1954, when they were from 1957 or 1958. The 26th printing seems to be correctly listed as 1956. I ought to contact our paper, this would make a cool local human interest story. And I could even put in a plug for the Dope! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/15 "2019-06-22T20:51:14Z")
The following list is printings by the years they have shown. The one in italics I have two copies of, in case anyone wants me to send them one. And as you can see, like I mentioned in the last post, the last two printings had an obvious printing error themselves. 1-1931 _2-1932_ 3-1934 4-1934 _5-1934_ 6-1934 7-1935 8-1935 8-1936 10-1937 _11-1938_ 12-1939 13-1940 14-1941 15-1942 16-1943 17-1944 _18-1945_ 19-1946 20-1946 21-1947 22-1949 _23-1952_ 24-1954 25-1955 26-1956 27-1954 28-1954 ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/16 "2019-06-22T21:14:32Z")
I’m glad you got this resolved! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/17 "2019-06-22T21:20:44Z")
No 9th printing, but they had a 13th printing? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/18 "2019-06-23T12:39:48Z")
**Baker** , I’m so glad you completed your collection and that we could help. If you’re offering up free extra copies, I’ll take one as a trophy for my small part. I like older from scratch recipes too, especially for baking. If you’re so dedicated to tracking these books down, they must be pretty good. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/19 "2019-06-24T16:09:17Z")
Tried [BookFinder.com: Search Results (Matching Titles)](https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=&title=The+Household+Searchlight+Recipe+Book&lang=en&isbn=&new_used=*&destination=us¤cy=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr) ? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853/20 "2020-08-25T20:21:10Z")
I have an update for this thread that is a good one Last time I posted the collection of original books was complete. My sister and I have now located, and purchased, all the reprints that were published, and a unique. 1958 rolodex version of the Household Searchligt. We have also be in contact with the curator of the cook book collection at Kansas State University, where we intend to donate the entire set, including an essay and notes on each copy, and the background of the collection in general. The curator is especially happy with the research essay, and wants to publish it in the university’s data system. He also asked if we would care to come to K-State and talk to a group about it. Physical donation of the books themselves will pribably have to wait until next year, because of library renovations that are ongoing. I might still be frustrated about that one copy if it were not for the SDMB! Thanks again! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-advice-on-searching-for-a-book/835853.md?page=2)