I have long been a fan of the cookery writing of the late Alan Davidson.
He wrote the definitive books on both Atlantic and Mediterranean fish and then topped off his career by the greatest reference book for food of all time: The Oxford Companion to Food.

There used to be an excellent secondhand cook book seller in Brighton called Liz Seeber who retired from that game a few years ago. Just before she went, however she sold off great chunks of her stock in job lots. Among these was a lot of paperbacks dealing with the food of Southern France which I snapped up for a few paltry pounds.
I was delighted to find, when I opened these that several were from the liberary of Mr. Davidson and had his bookplate inside the front cover, the stuff I reckon that his heirs thought were not going to be worth putting into the auction of his library some years later.

Good moment.