I have a rookie question for ya'll. For several years, I have collected old cookbooks and booklets of various formats and binding. Since many of them are very old and quite used, some are not postable, some are, and some are borderline. I'd like to swap with people who are into cookbooks like I am. I have several copies of some titles, and am missing others in a "series" or "collection". I am a PBS boxer, but that won't help with my unpostables. Listing them in the book bazaar won't work, because those are freebies, right? If I can find someone else who is like-minded about cookbooks (I don't care about loose pages in my Miss Leslie's Cookery book, it's from 1857 for crying out loud) and just likes to collect, read and cherish them as I do, I'd be happy. 

All that to finally get to my question: What do I do? Where do I search? Which forum do I read to find what I'm looking for?

There is a "cooking" forum on PBS - might wanna try there, too!

MaryF

You can't ask to do creditless swaps in the forums with anyone but other boxers. In the Genre Forums like cooking, you are supposed to keep all offers in the red sticky threads at the top. Alot of people don't, but the genre threads aren't supposed to be used to advertise.

But you can ask for credits in the Bazaar. As long as you describe the items in detail for what they are and why they are not postable and you are swapping media, you can offer it in the Bazaar. The rules have changed and loosened a little in there lately to allow things such as magazines too (as long as those are not sent media mail) to allow use to swap other reading material unofficially and keep it out of the recycling bins and landfills a little longer.

Also, in the Postability Criteria help doc, it says:

• No staining

  • Exception: Cookbooks may have some mild staining, since these are used in the kitchen and while cooking, and some minor degree of staining could be expected in a used cookbook.  Also a small amount of writing in cookbooks could be expected
  • • HOWEVER, if you post a cookbook and it is stained and/or written-in, the condition must be described to the requestor in a Personal Message
  • • AND the described condition MUST BE AGREED TO in a reply PM before the book is sent
    • This is the one of the ONLY three cases in which a PM exchange about a book is required before the book can be sent (the others are for travel guidebooks and textbooks/workbooks--see above).
• this exception applies to the covers of cookbooks also.

Thank you all for the great advice!