The Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking

Cover of 1975 edition
Author	Irma S. Rombauer
Genre	Cookbook
Publisher	Bobbs-Merrill, Scribner
Publication date	1931
ISBN
OCLC	1444322

Joy of Cooking, often known as "The Joy of Cooking", is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks. It has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 18 million copies. It was privately published in 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer, a homemaker in St. Louis, Missouri who was struggling emotionally and financially after her husband's suicide the previous year. Rombauer had 3,000 copies printed by A.C. Clayton, a company which had printed labels for fancy St. Louis shoe companies and for Listerine, but never a book. In 1936, the book was picked up by a commercial printing house, the Bobbs-Merrill Company. With 7 editions, Joy is the backbone of many home cooks' libraries and is commonly found in commercial kitchens as well.

Born to German immigrants in 1877, Irma Starkloff grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. She married Edgar Rombauer, a lawyer, in 1899. Edgar committed suicide after a severe bout of depression, in 1930, widowing Irma at age 52, and leaving her with $6,000 in life savings.

Rombauer's children, Marion Rombauer Becker and Edgar Roderick ("Put") Rombauer, Jr., encouraged her to compile her recipes and thoughts on cooking to help her cope with her loss. In the summer of 1930, Rombauer spent a summer in Michigan, creating the very first drafts that would later become Joy. With the help of her late husband's secretary, Mazie Whyte, Rombauer began writing and editing recipes and commentaries while searching for more recipes through her neighborhoods and communities in St. Louis. In the fall of 1930, Rombauer went to the A.C. Clayton Printing Company, a printer for the St. Louis shoe manufacturers. She paid them $3,000 to print 3,000 copies of The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat in November 1931.

In 1931, Rombauer, a recent widow needing a way to occupy her time, self-published The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat with over 500 tested recipes and related commentaries.

The book was illustrated by Rombauer's daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, who directed the art department at John Burroughs School. Working on weekends during the winter of 1930-31, Marion designed the cover, which depicted St. Martha of Bethany, the patron saint of cooking, slaying a dragon. She also produced silhouette cutouts to illustrate chapter headings. By 1932, a majority of the 3,000 copies printed by A.C. Clayton were sold. The St. Louis community were favorable to her work, and she quickly garnered support and interest from the greater Midwest, including Indiana and Illinois. Rombauer began to look for a new publisher in 1932.