
The book was illustrated by Rombauer's daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, who directed the art department at John Burroughs School. In 1931 Rombauer self-published The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat with more than 500 tested recipes and related commentaries. 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. Clayton Printing Company, a printer for the St. During the autumn of 1930, Rombauer went to the A.C. With the help of her late husband's secretary, Mazie Whyte, Rombauer began writing and editing recipes and commentaries while searching for more recipes in St. Rombauer spent much of the summer of 1930 in Michigan, creating the first drafts that would later become Joy of Cooking.

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. Edgar committed suicide in 1930 after a severe bout of depression, widowing Irma at age 52 and leaving her with $6,000 in savings. She married Edgar Rombauer, a lawyer, in 1899.


Born to German immigrants in 1877, Irma Starkloff was born and grew up in St.
