The Joy of Cooking.

ROMBAUER, Irma S.

Item Number: 15019

Indianapolis/ New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1936.

First edition of Bobbs-Merrill Company, published after the 1931 edition. After searching for a publisher and being rejected many times over, the Bobbs-Merrill Company published an expanded edition on May 1, 1936. Octavo, original cloth. Signed “Cordially yours Irma S. Rombauer” on the front free endpaper. In very good condition with some rubbing and wear to the extremities. Housed in a clamshell box. Rare, especially signed.

In 1931, Irma Rombauer announced that she intended to turn her personal collection of recipes and cooking techniques into a cookbook. Cooking could no longer remain a private passion for Irma. She had recently been widowed and needed to find a way to support her family. Irma was a celebrated St. Louis hostess who sensed that she was not alone in her need for a no-nonsense, practical resource in the kitchen. So, mustering what assets she had, she self-published The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat. Out of these unlikely circumstances was born the most authoritative cookbook in America, the book your grandmother and mother probably learned to cook from.