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Jumping for 'Joy'
Daisy Maryles, with Dick Donahue -- 11/24/97
Talk about your self-published books that go on to fame and fortune. Back in 1931, the suddenly widowed Irma Rombauer used half of her husband's $6000 estate to publish a "compilation of reliable recipes and a casual culinary chat." The book, which was illustrated by Rombauer's daughter Marion, was The Joy of Cooking, and the rest, of course, became publishing -- and gastronomic -- history. On November 5, Scribner published "the all new, all-purpose" Joy, the sixth revision of this kitchen classic and the first in more than 22 years. (Not surprisingly, the page count has jumped somewhat, from 395 in 1931 to 1152; the price, too, has kept pace with the times, going from $2.50 to the current $30.) Simon &Schuster invested $5 million in this "renovation," and it's paying off big-time. The new edition has leapt onto bestseller charts nationwide; it debuted on our list last week at #10 and now moves to #5. Two trips back to press-after a hefty 500,000-copy first printing -- bring the in-print total to 750,000. Scribner's publicity campaign reads like a Who's Who in the Media, beginning with TV shows such as Today and Good Morning America along with promotions on CNBC, Lifetime, The Food Network, A&E and PBS. More than 30 cooking classes will be conducted around the country by several of the book's contributors, and features are appearing in more than 40 magazines and 50 newspapers as well as on several on-line sites. And the joy continues: a CD-ROM is planned for next fall, and in May Scribner will publish a facsimile edition of the book's original edition. Nice work, Irma.

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