Every food and cooking lover's cookbook collection contains at least one or two volumes that look a little worse for wear; their torn jackets conceal faded olive oil stains, a faint dusting of flour lingers between their dog-eared pages. These are the cookbooks we turn to time and time again. They lay open on our kitchen counters while we chop, grind, and dice. They guide you through countless hours of sauteing, braising, and broiling. Indeed, these "desert island" cookbooks are few and far between, but The Spice Cookbook is chief among them.

First published in 1964, The...