“The Edna Lewis Cookbook” | First Edition 1972, Southern Culinary Icon

Details

Description

The Edna Lewis Cookbook — First Edition, 1972 (Bobbs-Merrill)

Overview
A rare first-edition printing of The Edna Lewis Cookbook (1972), … Read more The Edna Lewis Cookbook — First Edition, 1972 (Bobbs-Merrill)

Overview
A rare first-edition printing of The Edna Lewis Cookbook (1972), co-authored with Evangeline Peterson. This landmark debut introduced America to the heart and soul of true Southern cooking — generations of tradition distilled into over one hundred recipes crafted from memory, love, and heritage.

Details
• Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.
• Publication Year: 1972
• Edition: First Edition / First Printing (stated)
• Binding: Hardcover with original dust jacket
• Condition: Excellent vintage. Clean pages, tight binding, and vivid dust-jacket color with only light edge wear from age. Interior pages crisp and unmarked.
• Dimensions: Approx. 10.5” H × 7.25” W × 1” D

Provenance & Significance
Edna Lewis was born in Freetown, Virginia — a community founded by freed slaves after the Civil War — and rose to become one of America’s most celebrated culinary voices. Her work helped preserve and elevate African-American Southern cuisine at a time when it was rarely given its due. The Edna Lewis Cookbook was her first published volume and remains one of the most sought-after vintage cookbooks of the 20th century.

Condition Notes
Minimal shelf wear to the edges of the jacket; spine and boards are strong and well-preserved. A remarkably clean copy for its age. See less