Description
Author: Mary Hosford
Illustrator: Betty Crumley
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy
Place: New York
Year: 1958
Edition: First printing, stated
Format: Hardcover with dust jacket protected in removable Brodart
Condition: Vintage hardcover. The dust jacket has age toning, edge wear, and small areas of loss, particularly at the corners and lower edge. Protected in removable Brodart.
ISBN: None; published before ISBNs were in general use
escription:
Part cookbook and part personal journey, The Missouri Traveler Cookbook gathers Mary Hosford’s recipes and food memories from family kitchens, travels, friends, and restaurants. Published in 1958 alongside her appearance in the film The Missouri Traveler, the book mixes midcentury cooking with stories from a lively and varied life. This is the stated first printing, with its original illustrated dust jacket and drawings by Betty Crumley.
Why We Love This Book:
The striking lantern jacket first catches the eye, but the unusual mix of recipes, memoir, and movie history gives this cookbook its character.
Marylou Whitney was the later name of Mary Hosford, the author of your cookbook. She acted in the 1958 film The Missouri Traveler and later married Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney, becoming a prominent Saratoga socialite and philanthropist.
That makes this1958 first printing interesting beyond its recipes: it captures her before she became widely known as Marylou Whitney, and it connects directly to her film.