Remember when I lost out on the Holy Grail eBay battle? While still on the site, I did a search for Betty Feezor items. I came across two auctions for small, thin pamphlets. During her more than two decades on television, all of Betty’s recipes were available to the public through mimeographed copies as well as her self-published cookbooks. Tucked in the middle of the daily show and the new cookbooks that would come out every few years, station advertising clients would sponsor and distribute small pamphlets with a collection of her recipes.
These were limited runs and are now very hard to find. When they do go up for auction on eBay, they can get out of hand for a 12- to 15-page publication. I should know, I’ve bid on a few!
There was only one bid on one pamphlet and no bid on the second one. I put bids on both and was the highest bidder. A few extra bids did come in and bumped the prices up quite a bit—but in the end, I got both of them!
So, a few days later and here they are:
The white one is “Betty Feezor Southern Biscuit Recipes” lots of recipes for cookies, cakes, fritters and dumplings. This one was published and distributed by Midstate Mills (Newton, NC) and Mooresville Flour Mills (Mooresville, NC). The brown one is called “Country Cookin’ goes Modern.” It reminded me of Betty’s early beginnings as a home demonstrator. She’d go out to the less-developed areas and show them more modern cooking techniques for preparing meals. This one is published by Piedmont Natural Gas, Carolina Natural Gas Corp. and Public Service Company of N.C.
And they’re both is pristine condition, these were either forgotten on a shelf or very carefully cared for by a fan. Or, maybe both?