The Most Valuable Collectors' Items in History

80. First Edition of Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'

Manufacturer: Knopf
Original price: US $ 2-5*
Current value: US $ 2,000.00 and more *

Published in 1961, the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking was one of author Julia Childs' most successful, and the success of Vol. 1, the original Art, was what led her to the TV show The French Chef. The French Chef was one of the first cooking shows on American TV.

As you can imagine, the original 1961 first editions of The Art of French Cooking they are a piece of culinary history, and a copy in mint condition could be worth US$ 2,000, if not more. Published by Knopf, a historian said that art had a greater impact on “changing the way people ate” than “any other event” in the last fifty years.