|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Learn how to cook with bugs, incorporate Coca-Cola into all sorts of dishes and even make an (unofficial) Harry Potter cauldron cake in the pages of cookbooks stocked at a Friends of the Palo Alto Library (FOPAL) book sale.
Each month, about 300 cookbooks are donated to the nonprofit organization, where volunteers sort, price and shelve books with the goal of getting them back into the community. Most cookbooks are $3-$8, and profits go toward the Palo Alto City Library, helping to fund programs, new books and e-books.
“Coming here is actually like a hidden gem,” said Amy Rosenberg, a FOPAL volunteer. “You would think that the community, based on the donations, is a foodie community, is a cooking community…People really don’t know you can come here and get $60 cookbooks for $5 or a 1929 refrigerator cookbook or funny gifts.”
Cookbooks are priced between $2-$15, with paperback books as low as $2 and hardbacks as low as $3, according to Michele Kasper, FOPAL’s cookbook section co-manager.
But beyond the gag gifts, such as cookbooks touting “Creative Cooking with Aluminum Foil” or “The New Joys of Jell-O,” there’s a lot of history to be found in the pages.
FOPAL is currently listing on eBay an American 1954 first edition of “The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book” by Alice B. Toklas for $99 – a much cheaper rate than other sellers, who are listing it anywhere from $180-$1,188, according to Young-Jeh Oh, an eBay high-value lister for FOPAL.
What’s particularly notable about this first edition is the publisher removed Toklas’ recipe for hashish fudge, which calls for “a bunch of canibus sativa” and describes it as “the food of Paradise.” These brownies are even referred to in the 1968 rom-com “I Love You, Alice B. Toklas.”
FOPAL has close to 3,000 books listed on eBay, most of which are priced at $50 or more. But just like its in-person sales, books are priced at half the value from the standard.
The most valuable cookbook FOPAL has sold on eBay was a first edition, first printing of “What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking” about six years ago. The cookbook was created by a formerly enslaved African American who was emancipated after the Civil War and moved to San Francisco with her husband, who was a picklemaker. Since Abby Fisher could not write, the cookbook was made through dictation.
Its selling price? $1,300.
But it’s not just the high-value books with a lot of history. Plenty of $2 books feature Depression-era recipes (including “Kitchen Fun: A Cook Book for Children”) or are stuffed with handwritten recipes from previous owners. A cookbook from 1863 even discusses how to talk to your maids and staff.
“So many metaphors for what’s going on in the moment and the trends,” Rosenberg said.
And if you’re looking for more modern cookbooks, there’s plenty of those too. The most common books found at FOPAL book sales are from Williams-Sonoma, Ina Garten, Julia Child, Jacques Pépin and Cook’s Illustrated, according to Kasper.
“If a book’s been really, really popular, you can bet that we’re going to get a lot of them in at some point,” Kasper said.
About 40%-50% of cookbooks are sold each month, estimated Kasper. After two months without being sold, books that are in nice condition go to Palo Alto City Library’s FOPAL stores, located at the Downtown Library, Mitchell Park Library and Rinconada Library.
The books that aren’t up to standard go to the bargain room and have another chance to be sold at a cheaper price. Saturday bargain room sales offer paperbacks for $1 and hardbacks for $2. Books not sold on Saturday get carried over to Sunday, when buyers can bring a grocery bag and fill it with as many books as they want for $5.
Beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday, nonprofits and teachers can take as many books as they want for free. On Monday from 6-8 p.m., any remaining books are completely free for anyone in the community (there’s even a regular who contacts shipping containers to see if they have extra room and sends books to Kenya.) If any books remain, they are sent to a paper mill in Oregon to reprocess into paper.
“One time I asked someone, ‘Is the goal to sell books or make money?’ And the answer was ‘Yes.’ That’s why we price them the way we do,” said Susan Light, an eBay high-value lister.
FOPAL started in 1938 and makes about $400,000 a year before accounting for expenses, according to FOPAL’s treasurer. Apart from a manager who oversees volunteers, the nonprofit is completely volunteer-run.
“I tell people, ‘There are three reasons to volunteer here,’” Light said. “‘The first is because you’re helping the community. The second is because you get to meet nice people. And the third is because you get access to all the books there. If you see a book you like, you can get it before the sale.’”
FOPAL’s next book sale will be Oct. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Oct. 12 from 1-4 p.m. at the Cubberley Community Center. On Oct. 11, the main room will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the bargain room from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the children’s room from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friends of the Palo Alto Library, Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto; Instagram: @friendsofthepaloaltolibrary.
Dig into food news. Follow the Peninsula Foodist on Instagram and subscribe to the newsletter to get insights on the latest openings and closings, learn what the Foodist is excited about eating, read exclusive interviews and keep up on the trends affecting local restaurants.
Correction: This article has been updated from a previous version to correct FOPAL’s yearly revenue.
Historic Woodside restaurant reopens as flower shop and cafe with Michelin cred chefJanuary 28, 2026 2:46 pm
Menlo Park school district weighs cuts to libraries, music and language programsJanuary 29, 2026 11:03 am