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Getting older and pondering on my possessions, I suspect neither of my daughters, through changed lifestyles, will want my collection. I would like to gift to a charity. Is there a way to export a list of my library to help with this, or could it be done? Thanks xx

You can export your Bookshelf into a spreadsheet or print it out. This is the Help section on that feature.

Such a shame that you think your daughters will not want to inherit your cherished books. IN these times of austerity — don't get me started on the causes of that — and the proliferation of food banks here in the UK everyone needs a good grounding in cooking but for the moment I guess your girls don't appreciate that.

I have the same problem.  My daughter knows which ones to keep but that still leaves hundreds.  Here is her solution:  when I pass, she will bring the cookbooks to the funeral home and paste a remembrance card on each one.  Every visitor takes a book home to remember me.  I think I like it!!

Interesting topic, I really like the idea of arranging to give them out at my funeral. I'd hope my daighter would want some and would think of me when reading notes in them but realistically nobody will want shelves full at a time.

Read an article about this sort thing a few years ago. It was more about books in general rather than cookbooks specifically but was rather thought provoking.

If you have a large cookbook collection the reality is that 99% of them are worthless financially speaking. Charity shops might want the newer ones but the rest are too big and bulky to store for extended periods especially as they might only fetch a token amount each. Selling on ebay is for most books not worth the effort.... usually postage is more than the value of the book let alone the time and packaging costs... 500 books anyone?

Most collections are a labour of love personal to the individual collector. Do you want to be given Uncle Tony's collection of 5,300 different beer cans or matchboxes? The sad reality is that family will take some, some will be sold and others will be given to charity but I suspect most will be pulped.

My cookbook collection has grown to about 6,000. I have no children to leave them to, have already sold some, donated some, and when I'm gone, they will go to the culinary/hospitality program at a local community college, by prior arrangements. Even though a lot of people don't want "books", but prefer to search the internet, there is still a demand for them, such as these kind of programs.

Sadly most cookbooks are not worth much a few years after being published. I have amassed over 1100 at this time and do not plan to stop collecting. We like to call ourselves a collector when we simply cannot control our shopping habits. I am guilty of that. My children cook but have not much interest in my cookbooks. Hence I have sold some of my valuable treasures such as Julia Child signed first editions and some very old rare books I had purchased cheaply at charity sales that turned out to be valuable. I get such joy out of my cookbooks. They are the only books in the house I go through regularly. It is a much cheaper addiction than high end jewelry so my husband is fine with it. It also makes it easy for him to come up with birthday gifts. I will probably will my collection to Helms College or similar institution that teaches people who have hit hard times to learn culinary skills and to get back into earning a living as a cook. They will definitely end up with some charity.

For me, there are subsets of my collection that children and grandchildren etc. will want, but the best solution is to "dump" them on Powell's in Portland which has a separate cookbook store as well as cookbooks in their main store. Is there a new & used cookbook store in your area?

I do to, which is how I ended up with 6,000 cookbooks!