Original 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook or the Facsimile Reprint: Which Should I Buy?

Two books, one title, and a real difference between them. Here is how to tell which copy belongs in your kitchen. By Pam Fournier, Pam of Reading Vintage

The short answer

This is one of the questions I get asked, and it usually sounds about the same. She remembers a big red cookbook on her mother's counter. She goes looking, and she finds two of them for sale at about the same price. One is an original from 1950. One is a facsimile reprint that says right on it that it reproduces the 1950 book.

Here is the short answer.

If you want the object your mother actually owned, buy the original. If you want the recipes from that book in a copy you can spill on, cook from hard, and not worry about, buy the facsimile. A facsimile is honest about what it is. It reprints the same pages. What it cannot give you is the age, the paper, the smell of a real 1950 book, or the handwriting somebody left inside it.

Most people asking me this already know which one they want. They want the old one. They are just checking that they are not being silly about it. You are not.

5 Key Takeaways

1. A facsimile reprint of the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book reproduces the original pages, so the recipes are the same. A revised edition is a different thing and the recipes can change.
2. The copyright page is where you find out which one you are holding. Look for the words facsimile edition, or a line naming the year it reproduces.
3. Buy the original when the book itself is the point: a memory, a gift with age behind it, a shelf you are keeping.
4. Buy the facsimile when the cooking is the point and you do not want to be careful with it.
5. The third answer, and the one most buyers actually pick, is an original in good enough condition to use. That is what "the right copy" means here.

The problem: same title, two different objects

Vintage cookbooks are hard to shop for online, and this title is one of the hardest, because so many copies exist and the listings do not always explain what they are.

People message me to ask whether a certain recipe is on a certain page. That is the real question underneath all of this. They are not asking what the book is worth. They are asking whether this copy has the thing they remember.

That is a fair worry, and it is not solved by buying the newest looking copy. A cookbook title can carry a lot of different books under it over the years. Pages get added. Pages get dropped. A book gets revised, retitled, repackaged, and the cover still says the same name.

So you end up with two listings on your screen, both honest, both describing a real book, and no clear way to tell which one gets you the recipe your mother made.

The good news is that this particular comparison is easier than most, because a facsimile is required to be plain about itself. It wants you to know it is a reproduction. That is the whole selling point.

What is actually different between them

Here is what separates the two, in plain terms.

The pages are the same, on purpose. A facsimile reprints the original. The facsimile of this book is sold under a title that says so: Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, Facsimile Edition, The Original 1950 Classic. That is not marketing language from me. That is the title the publisher put on it. So if your worry is "will the recipe be in there," a facsimile answers that worry.

A facsimile is not the same as a revised edition. This is the part that trips people up. A revised edition is a re-edit. Recipes get rewritten, measurements get tidied, some recipes get cut, and the voice of the book changes. I wrote a longer piece on that if you want it: what changes between a vintage cookbook and a modern reprint. A facsimile is the opposite. It is trying not to change anything.

The binding can confuse you. The 1950 book was issued in a ring binder so a cook could lay it flat on a counter, and later printings came bound like a regular hardcover. Facsimile copies have also been sold in a ring binder form. So the binder style by itself does not tell you the age of what you are holding. Plenty of listings get this wrong in good faith.

Age shows up in places a reprint cannot copy. Paper color. Page edges. The way the boards soften at the corners. Whether a previous cook wrote in it, taped a clipping to a page, or left a spatter next to the frosting instructions. A facsimile arrives clean, and it stays clean until you use it.

The copyright page settles it. Open to the first few pages. The year, the printing, and any line about the edition are all right there. If it says facsimile edition, or names the year it reproduces, you have a reprint. If you want help reading that page, here is where to find the year of publication and the copyright date in a vintage book.

Availability is not the same as the right copy

I say this a lot because it keeps being true. There is almost always a copy available. That is not the hard part. The hard part is that the copy in front of you may not be the copy you went looking for.

So I stopped asking people which book is better and started asking what job the book has to do.

A book has one of three jobs in a house like this. It cooks, it gets given, or it gets kept. Those three jobs do not want the same copy, and once you know which job you are buying for, the decision takes about ten seconds.

Nobody is wrong for picking the reprint. A reprint is a real book that a real publisher kept in print because people wanted it. It is just not always the right copy for the reason you went looking.

Which copy fits cooking, gifting, or keeping

If it is going to cook. Buy the facsimile, or buy an original in rough but sound condition. A cooking copy is going to get flour on it. It is going to sit open on a counter under a dripping spoon. You want a book you will use without flinching, with a binding that holds and pages that turn cleanly. The facsimile is genuinely good at this job. So is a beat up original that nobody would call collectible, and those are usually the better buy of the two if you want the old paper under your hands while you work.

If it is going to be given. Buy an original in decent condition. A vintage book carries age, and age is the gift. Handing somebody a reprint of the book their mother used is a nice thought. Handing them a copy that was actually printed in her lifetime is a different feeling, and that is the thing you are really giving. Just be honest with yourself about condition. A gift copy should look cared for. Loose boards and a split spine read as worn out rather than meaningful when somebody opens a box.

If it is going to be kept. Buy the original, and do not talk yourself into the reprint. This is the clearest call of the three. If the book is going on a shelf as the family copy, the object is the point. A reproduction of the object does not do that job no matter how good the printing is.

One of my buyers landed on the version of this that I think is right for most people. She wrote: "In very good condition, considering it was published in the 1940s. My mother had a copy of this cookbook and used it until it fell apart. I wanted one that wasn't in tatters and missing many pages."

That is not somebody choosing between old and new. That is somebody choosing an old book in shape she could live with. That is the answer more often than either extreme.

When I have cookbooks like this in stock I describe the edition, the year, the binding, and the condition plainly, so you can tell which job a copy is fit for before you buy it. You can see what is on the shelf right now in the vintage cookbooks and recipe books I have listed. This title comes and goes, so if you do not see it, it is worth checking back. Vintage does not restock neatly.

Practical steps before you buy either one

1. Name the job first. Cooking, gifting, or keeping. Write it down if you have to. Every other decision falls out of this one, and skipping it is how people end up with a copy they do not use.
2. Ask the seller for the copyright page. A good seller will photograph it or type out what it says. If a listing has no edition information and the seller will not answer, that is your answer.
3. Look for the word facsimile. On the cover, the spine, the title page, or the copyright page. A facsimile usually says so in more than one place, because being a faithful reprint is the point of it.
4. Do not judge age by the binding. Ring binder does not mean 1950, and bound hardcover does not mean later. Check the page, not the format.
5. Read the condition notes twice if it is a gift. Specifically look for loose or sliding boards, a cracked spine, missing pages, and writing. Some writing is history and some is just mess. A seller who tells you which is which is a seller worth buying from.
6. Decide what wear you can live with. For a cooking copy, almost anything sound. For a keeping copy, you want the boards tight and the pages complete. Stains near a popular recipe are not a flaw on a working cookbook. They are evidence.
7. If the recipe is the whole reason, ask about the recipe. Give the seller the name of the dish. On a book I have in hand, I will go look. That one message saves everybody a return.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is the facsimile edition the same as the original 1950 book?

The pages are meant to be the same, because a facsimile reproduces the original rather than re-editing it. What differs is the object: the paper, the age, the wear, and anything a previous cook left inside. If you want the recipes, a facsimile works. If you want the book itself, it does not.

Q. How can I tell if a copy is an original or a reprint?

Open to the copyright page in the first few pages. Look at the year, the printing line, and any edition note. A facsimile normally says facsimile edition outright, often on the cover as well. If the listing does not show that page, ask the seller for a photo of it before you buy.

Q. Does a revised edition have the same recipes?

Not always, and that is the real risk. A revised edition is edited: recipes can be rewritten, simplified, or removed, and the writing itself often changes. If a specific dish is why you are buying, ask whether that recipe appears in that printing rather than assuming the title guarantees it.

Q. Is the original worth more than the facsimile?

Usually, but condition drives the price more than age does. A clean original in a tight binding is worth more than a rough one, and a rough original can cost less than a reprint. Price what is in front of you, not the idea of a 1950 book.

Q. Can I actually cook from a copy this old?

Yes, if the binding is sound and the pages are complete. Keep it off the stove and close it when you set it down. Do check current food safety guidance for anything involving canning, poultry temperatures, or raw eggs, because that advice has changed since the book was printed.

Pick for the job

Go back to the two listings on your screen for a second.

One of them is a book somebody kept on a counter for forty years. One of them is a careful reproduction of that book, printed so people could keep cooking from it. Both of those are good reasons for a book to exist.

The question is not which one is the better book. It is which one does the job you are buying it for. If it is going to cook, buy the one you will not be careful with. If it is going to be kept, buy the one with the years in it.

And if what you are really after is a recipe your mother made, say so out loud to whoever is selling it to you. Any seller worth buying from will open the book and look.

Availability is not the same as the right copy. Pick for the job and you will be happy with it every time you open it.

Keep Learning

• Vintage Cookbook vs Modern Reprint: Which One Makes More Sense to Buy? The broader version of this question, covering what reprints change and why the cheapest copy is not always the right one.
• Where to Find the Year of Publication and Copyright Date in Vintage Books A plain walkthrough of the page that settles almost every edition question.

About the author

Pam Fournier is a Michigan based vintage bookseller and the founder of Reading Vintage, where she helps nostalgic readers and memory driven buyers find the right vintage book or collectible with confidence. She has been out hunting sales for fifteen years, five of them as co owner of an estate sale company, and has over 500 reviews across Shopify and Etsy. Every cookbook she lists names the edition, the year, and the condition in plain English, so a buyer can tell whether it is the right copy before it ships.