The Joy of the Joy of Cooking

Book Patrol takes a look at one of the most important cookbooks in history.

From the piece...

It is the most popular and best-selling cookbook in American history, with nearly 18 million copies sold.

It is the only cookbook to be included in the New York Public Library’s list of 150 Influential Books of the Century.

The original edition was privately published by the author in an edition of 3000 copies and was illustrated by the author’s daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, who also designed the spectacular dust jacket featuring St. Martha of Bethany, the patron saint of cooking, taking up a mop to fend off the dragon Tarasque.

The author marketed the book herself, selling copies out of her apartment for $3.00 apiece and sold approximately 2000 copies in two years, no mean accomplishment in the early years of the Great Depression. 

But the real joy came when Bobbs-Merrill took over the commercial publication of the book in 1936. 

The rest they say is history.