<p>I have old cookbooks that belonged to relatives and while the content is valuable, the fact that some books open by themselves to certain pages that have little splatters and such on them, showing the thing that person cooked a lot, those sorts of records are more valuable to me. Therefore I wouldn't recommend trying to change much about them.</p>
<p>The fact that some books are taller than others or wider than others is no big deal. The cards are a hassle though. I would suggest getting a binder and some sheets that can hold cards. Often these are clear, so you can read the card without removing it from the sheet. You could also photocopy some things and then put the photocopied sheets into a binder.</p>
<p>I have a bookcase in my kitchen with many more than 20 cookbooks on it. The more you have, the less it matters that their sizes aren't consistent. Once they're all books, put them on a bookshelf and enjoy them as they are, knowing that this actual paper, this actual book, is something your mother touched and used.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-09T20:27:00.753Z
2024-05-09T20:27:00.753Z
Kate Gregory
<p>I had recently been married, and as a result now had a reason and motivation to cook. So, after getting settled, I went back to my dad's house and got my mom's old cookbooks, all 20+ of them.</p>
<p>It is a little ugly for them all to be in their different formats, with some being narrow and wide, other being cards, and others being normal books. They have been sitting on our kitchen table for a month or two, but I haven't been able to generate any ideas, which leads me here. <strong>How do I compile many cookbooks into a consistent format without scanning/transcribing everything?</strong> Of note, I do not mean extracting the text alone, as that would imply the only way being scanning/transcribing. I'm fine to go with scrapbooking them all or generally dissecting the books, but I could see that quickly becoming cumbersome and difficult to manage if it was in one scrapbook.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-29T16:51:43.377Z
What do you mean by consistent format? Not sure how you would expect to unify the format of recipes from many different books/cards _without_ scanning or transcribing. Maybe the best thing to do is make an index of all the different recipes so you at least have a single reference point.
rebusB
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-30T18:18:32.263Z
@rebusB That's a good idea; I'll start from there.
J Thompson
<book-binding>
How do I compile multiple cookbooks into one format without scanning/transcribing everything?
J Thompson
# How do I compile multiple cookbooks into one format without scanning/transcribing everything?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-27)

I had recently been married, and as a result now had a reason and motivation to cook. So, after getting settled, I went back to my dad's house and got my mom's old cookbooks, all 20+ of them.

It is a little ugly for them all to be in their different formats, with some being narrow and wide, other being cards, and others being normal books. They have been sitting on our kitchen table for a month or two, but I haven't been able to generate any ideas, which leads me here. **How do I compile many cookbooks into a consistent format without scanning/transcribing everything?** Of note, I do not mean extracting the text alone, as that would imply the only way being scanning/transcribing. I'm fine to go with scrapbooking them all or generally dissecting the books, but I could see that quickly becoming cumbersome and difficult to manage if it was in one scrapbook.

**Tags:** book-binding

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What do you mean by consistent format? Not sure how you would expect to unify the format of recipes from many different books/cards _without_ scanning or transcribing. Maybe the best thing to do is make an index of all the different recipes so you at least have a single reference point.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 That's a good idea; I'll start from there.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-05-09. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

I have old cookbooks that belonged to relatives and while the content is valuable, the fact that some books open by themselves to certain pages that have little splatters and such on them, showing the thing that person cooked a lot, those sorts of records are more valuable to me. Therefore I wouldn't recommend trying to change much about them.

The fact that some books are taller than others or wider than others is no big deal. The cards are a hassle though. I would suggest getting a binder and some sheets that can hold cards. Often these are clear, so you can read the card without removing it from the sheet. You could also photocopy some things and then put the photocopied sheets into a binder.

I have a bookcase in my kitchen with many more than 20 cookbooks on it. The more you have, the less it matters that their sizes aren't consistent. Once they're all books, put them on a bookshelf and enjoy them as they are, knowing that this actual paper, this actual book, is something your mother touched and used.


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