The I Hate to Cook Book
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1960.
First edition. (First printing with stated "first edition" on copyright page.) Signed by Peg Bracken in the year of publication, "Greetings, and keep your chin up!" xii, 176 pp. Bound in publisher's gray cloth stamped in blue. Near Fine with a few penciled notes by former owner, in a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with subtle lines of toning along top and bottom edges. Rare as an actual first printing that is signed. Portland, Oregon advertising copywriter and mother Peg Bracken's bestselling cookbook with a sense of humor, which acknowledged the dread of the kitchen many women faced (before the feminist movement made it acceptable to express). Anna Hezel in a 2017 article for Bon Appetit on the enduring popularity of the book notes: "One of the instructions for 'Skid Road Stroganoff' reads, 'Brown the garlic, onion, and crumbled beef in the oil. Add the flour, salt, paprika, and mushrooms, stir, and let cook five minutes while you light a cigarette and stare sullenly at the sink.' The book was for women who were cynical about homemaking—women who wanted to get their requisite chores done as quickly as possible so that they could move onto the good stuff, like reading the New Yorker and writing novels and drinking Manhattans."
. Item #140944381
Price: $350.00