The Joy of Cooking.

ROMBAUER, Irma S.

$2,000.00

Item Number: 115098

Indianapolis/ New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1941.

Early printing of Irma S. Rombauer’s culinary classic. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Joe with all good wishes most cordially Irma S. Rombauer.” In very good condition.

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.