If you're willing to give them away, you might want to try freecycle.org. It's a community based group. You have to join locally with a yahoo email address (which you can get for free). You post offers and people come take stuff off your hand. I've given away tons of stuff that way, some of which (a queen sized bed) I would have had to pay to be carted away. I also used it when my daughter was studying fashion and needed to make a scrapbook of different clothing styles. I posted a "want" for fashion magazines and catalogues, and a woman practically in our neighborhood gave us two years' worth of still-in-the-wrapper Vogues.
I agree that a "give-away" ad is best. I had the same dilemma. Old Gourmets had the recipes written in a solid block of text. It's not what young cooks want. I saw a tv cookbook review show in which a cookbook was given "thumbs down" because it didn't have enough pictures!!
I know exactly where you're coming from and so does my 88 yo mom. You want them to go to someone who will use them and appreciate them. My mom can't bear to part with hers. She says it's up to my brother and I after she's gone. I needed to find loving homes for some cookbooks. Some were duplicates, some were just not ever being used. All were classics. I put an ad on Craigslist under free items. A very sweet woman and her teenage daughter who was just learning to cook and loving it came and gave all of them a good home.
Timing plays a big part in finding someone to take those off your hands. Although they definitely are a treasure trove of information, unfortunately not too many people seem to want them. Some libraries - especially high schools and community colleges with culinary programs - are perhaps your best bet for new homes for them. I nearly wept when I had to put 25 years of Bon Appetit's (starting from issue #1) out for the trash when I moved some years ago and just couldn't take the extra weight.
You can give books or magazines away to your local library; they will often end up in the Friends of the Library gift shop.
Used bookstores will also buy old books; of course, they are a good source of older, out-of-print titles. Used bookstores are a bit choosy about what they take (often they will decline to take duplicates or items in poor condition).
An online used book marketplace like Abebooks.com is a great place to find discontinued titles.
Sorry I didn't know how to post correctly. The question is, has anyone else given such old mags (which are terrific resources) to younger cooks, any kind of good solutions for the question..what to do with those lovely old cooking mags. Then after that come the lovely older cookbooks to give away, But have to begin with the mags.
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Used bookstores will also buy old books; of course, they are a good source of older, out-of-print titles. Used bookstores are a bit choosy about what they take (often they will decline to take duplicates or items in poor condition).
An online used book marketplace like Abebooks.com is a great place to find discontinued titles.
Of course, there's always Craigslist, eBay, etc.