I love cookbooks. I currently have 56 in my ever-growing collection.
My first cookbook purchase was in the 1970s. Betty Crocker, of course.
Something that strikes me when I look at the older cookbooks, even the ones from the 60s and 70s, is the change in the type of ingredients compared to what we use now. I see recipes that call for lard, oleo margarine, and shortening. 
Something else I've discovered is that just because I buy a cookbook, doesn't mean I will make any recipes from it. I just like having it. It's comforting in some way, the way that cooking is comforting to me. I often look at recipes to get ideas about potential ingredients or see what temperature something should be cooked at, and then make my own modifications. But not for baking, with baking you need to be exact. I don't like recipes that have hundreds of ingredients--in my book, these recipes are only for special occasions! People give me cookbooks as gifts, and just to clean out their kitchen I think. No matter, I love getting cookbooks and buying new ones. I was recently given a 1935 silver-covered Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, the antique version of the previously mentioned "every Mother's cookbook".
I find some of the photographs in the older cookbooks quite interesting. This photo is from the 1969 La Cuisine Cookbook and is called "Glazed Ham Doulce France". It looks like a piece of art, and as I always say, food is art.
You never know what you will find inside of cookbooks either. I recently found this vintage Macy's ad for a groovy 1960s dress inside of an older cookbook. 
Some cookbooks have beautiful artwork on the cover.
I will continue my love affair with my cookbooks and hope I have inspired you to love your cookbooks too!
