A Harvest for the World

Ever had that situation where you see a book in a friend's house that looks interesting, flick through it and decide that you would like it for your cookery library, but when you go looking you are told by the bookshops that it's an 'American-edition-only/out-of-print/can't-be-traced' title. Great cookery books can all too often disappear too quickly, and different markets often don't recognise great original cooks: Alice Waters' brilliant books rarely get a publisher on this side of the pond, for example.

And so it was with City Cuisine, by Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. We first saw this cult title years ago, in a friend's London flat. We were struck by how idiosyncratic and gutsy the food was, how personal and spirited the photography was. We made a mental note of it, but of course never saw the book again; it was an American edition published by Morrow, and no matter where we asked, no one ever had it.

Then, working out plans for a new cookery book, we wanted to explain to people how we wanted the new book to have elements of the chutzpah of City Cuisine. Fine, said everyone, show us what you mean by showing us the book. But we didnšt have the book, and we couldn't get it.

Enter Harvest Booksearch. 'We locate out-of-print books', they promise. They are as good as their word. It took about three days for them to find the book, and then along came an email telling us that they had one, previously owned, in good condition and ready to ship. Six weeks later it arrived (we balked at the airmail prices).

So if you are looking for an out of print cookery book, then try this website: www.HarvestBooks.com