Overlooked cookbooks

1000 Classic Recipes - The Complete Cookbook for Every Meal and Any Occasion by Anne Sheasby was one of the first cookbooks I bought myself as a college student. It has been a great resource over the years and still the first place my kids and i look to for a recipe.

What a great thread! There's nothing like a great cookbook with a very personal point of view.

Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book" and "The Supper Book" are two of my all time favorite, practical books. I've made dozens of recipes from the two books and own around a thousand cookbooks. She's a great cook, great writer ...

The Flavor Principle Cookbook by Elisabeth Rozin (original 1973 edition is out of print; was re-printed in the early 80's with a slightly different title). The Art of Fine Baking by Paula Peck (also recently re-issued) -- excellent for techniques of classic baking. Another dessert fave: Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax. And I second drbabs' suggestion of Bert Greene's books on grains and greens, and of course the dear departed Laurie Colwin's books.

I love Laurie Colwin's books and also love the recipes in Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Her peach tart has been my go-to peach tart for years. I also love The Splendid Table by Lynn Rosetto Kasper.

I love reading and getting inspiration from the true stories of The Explorers Cookbook , a compilation of recipes and tales from members of the Explorers Club, recipes like Pepper Python, Chilean Corn Pie and Armadillo Roast. Great pictures too! It was compiled by Luther Douglass (Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho, 1971)

The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld and
Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours by Kim Boyce

Mine are Bert Greene's Greene on Greens and Greene on Grains. He wrote about using more vegetables and whole grains before it was cool. I also love Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking.

Miss Mary Bobo's Down Home Cooking/Dalsass

California Rancho Cooking by Jacqueline Higuera McMahon. Includes wonderful recipes and family history of "Californio" cooking--the cooking of the rancheros & their families on the Spanish land grants in early California. I have the original Olive Press edition, a newer expanded version is out.
Sephardic Cooking by Gilda Angel, whom I have the pleasure to know as a neighbor, science teacher and grandparent at our school, and wife of the esteemed Rabbi Emeritus at the "Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue" the first congregation in New York (and one of the oldest in the Americas)--wonderful, interesting recipes, no attitude
Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food (divided into Ashkenazic and Sephardic sections and with a fascinating history of many ancient communities)
Anna del Conte's Italian Kitchen, I Dolci, a tiny charming volume of Italian cakes and desserts, esp. for the cornmeal-almond cake, "La Torta Sbrisolana" ("crumble cake")
Edda Servi Machlin, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews-wonderful vegetables (the artichokes!) and meats and memories of her childhood in Pitigliano, a tiny Italian village, prior to WWII). I love the story of how the village's central Passover bakery was unlocked once a year so families could come in to make their own soft lacey matzohs (I sampled the same or similar matzohs at a restaurant here; they make them all year round, rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh garlic-heavenly and addictive)

I love The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth by Roy Andries de Groot. http://www.amazon.com/Auberge-Flowering-Hearth-Andries-Groot/dp/0880015047 He gets the geology of the Chartreuse wrong, but his stories and menus are delightful. And I've never made anything from it that I didn't like. It's the book I'd choose if I were going to cook my way though a book and blog about it. (Think that's ever been done?...)

I have 3 books that altered my way of thinking about food.
TRATTORIA, by Patricia Wells - the simplicity and flavor of her recipes
FOOD OF THE AMERICAS - NATIVE RECIPES AND TRADITIONS by Fernando and Merlene Divina and the Smithsonian On the cover Deborah Madison wrote "This very important book will open the reader's mind to the culinary wisdom and ingenuity of the Native peoples of the Americas. Then it will open athe reader's mouth to an enticing world of new flavors, which are in fact ancient and indigenous:
RAW by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein - The food amazing and the photos incredible! Who knew raw food could be so elegant?

Thank you so much, petitbleu, for asking this question.

Tartine (not Tartine Bread). I get inspiration from this cookbook ALL the time. It's not "easy baking," but it is the best cookbook I have for desserts and they have a whole section in the back that actually helps you create your own recipes by giving you basic recipes to build upon. It's stellar.

Simple French Food by Richard Olney (given to me by an ex-girlfriend a long time ago)
The West Coast Cookbook by Helen Brown (I was able to find a first on this one, but Random House also did a really smart reprint about 20 years ago. Both are out of print).
The Dictionary of Italian Cuisine by Maureen Fant and Howard Isaacs has been invaluable to me (disclaimer Howard is a friend of mine).

A really good source for out of print books is www.cookbookjj.com located in Pasadena, CA. And of course Kitchen Arts and Letters in NYC.

ChocolateChocolate by Lisa Yockelson--and her Baking by Flavor as well, although the first even more so. So homey and delicious.

What to Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House to Eat, Arthur Schwartz. Self explanatory, but the recipes are simple and usually don't require special or fancy ingredients.

Correction -- through the obvious...
In addition to produce type vegetables, he has beans and grains -- and it's omnivorous. There are history and cultural notes which make interesting reading.

A World of Vegetable Cookery, by Alex D. Hawkes, copyright 1968, was one of the first cookbooks I bought. Hawkes is a 'noted botanist' and he starts with Akee and goes alphabetically to Zucchini, though the obvious and the obscure. He knows a lot about foods of the Caribbean. Some of it looks a little simplistic now, but he knows the cooks who gave him the recipes and gives a good background on the foods and the cultures. When I go back to it I'm delighted to discover new treasures and inspiration.

Bistro Cooking at Home by Gordon Hamersley (the Boston restauranteur). It's classic AND accessible AND interesting French cooking. The percentage of "I'd make this again" recipes is remarkable.

The Art of the Tart: Savory and Sweet, by Tamsin Day-Lewis. Lovely little book - literally and figuratively - that focuses on one thing and does it very well. Sophisticated, without being fussy. (Fun, irrelevant factoid: the author's brother is Daniel Day-Lewis.)

Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop. There is a chapter for each vegetable, including some unusual ones like Salsify, Chayote, and Malanga. It's great reassurance to have on hand when I'm cooking with a vegetable I'm not super familiar with, and it's also a great baseline for building techniques that work well with a particular vegetable.

My French Table by Joanne Harris (Chocolat)

The Fabulous Desserts of Italy by George and Virginie Elbert, I found this at a stoop sale in my neighborhood it has some great recipes and what sold me initially is that it was dedicated to Suzanne, LOL! It had my name on it had to have it!

This isn't a cookbook. It's more an encyclopedia of Food Storage Systems. It does include some recipes.
But it's mostly a quick primary on things like Dehydrating, building dehydrators, brick ovens, keeping bees, goats, chickens, storing root vegies, even some aquaculture. It has a few recipes and lots of catalog type reviews of appliances. It's dated (early 80's), but most of the appliance suggestions still hold true. Above all it's a fascinating read that you can get lost in for hours.
It's from Rodale Press.
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Food-Systems-Processing-Preserving/dp/0878573208/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325716120&sr=8-2

"Honey you want to convert an above ground pool to raise trout?"
(Faceplam)

The Italian Baker by Carol Field. The Spice Coast of India by Maya Kaimal.