JOY HISTORY

Due to a series of strokes Irma suffered beginning in 1955, this is the first edition Marion revised without her mother. Instead, Marion's husband John helped her complete the manuscript. This JOY was first published in 1962 without Marion's final edits or approval, and even worse, without a contract. Marion first heard the edition was "in stores" from someone attending her mother's wake. Bobbs-Merrill had instructed Alice Richardson "to edit the Becker's edited galleys, but the Beckers are not to know about this." The unauthorized edition was a garbled and confused version of what Marion had intended.

After much work (there were so many corrections by Marion that the type had to be reset) this edition was released with Marion's blessing in 1963. Marion never publicly announced the behavior of the publisher, but she disowned the 1962 and always replaced it with a corrected copy whenever she discovered that a friend or family member owned one. Although interesting from a collector's standpoint, this is not a user-friendly edition and contains many types of errors.

The 1963 edition made The Joy of Cooking one of the America's flagship cookbooks, establishing JOY as the book amateurs as well as professionals reached for when they needed to learn to grind their own peanut butter, purify drinking water, build and cook on a campfire, clean a whole octopus, or substitute honey for sugar.  Recipes included for the first time: Fish Quenelles, pates, Baked Kasha, Stuffed Grape leaves, and Bolognese Sauce. This book confirmed JOY's status as America's kitchen bible.

This is the first edition of the Joy of Cooking to be printed in paperback.  The rights were purchased by New American Library in 1973 and published in a two- volume format. Note that paperbacks are printed one edition behind the most current hardback edition. 

COLLECTOR'S VALUES: $25-$45
Please read about cookbook collecting in the Kitchen Table Forums to learn more.