judith jones, the knopf editor who bought julia child’s mastering the art of french cooking, has passed away. in addition to julia, she also edited a steller collection of authors.
She will be missed. I re-read “The Pleasures of Cooking For One” yearly and always feel that I’m having a chat with a dear friend. Thank you for the link.
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This is especially significant since Julia Child would be celebrating her birthday August 15th. If you have a chance, visit the Julia Child Kitchen exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in D.C. So interesting to see the cross-section of ages that come to pay homage to one of our great American culinarians…
Having just recently re-watched Julie and Julia, I had no idea who Judith Jones was until I read the obit n- and what a presence in the literary world. Then I read this article in the NY Times. Had no idea that she “rescued” Dairy of Anne Frank from the “pass” pile at Knopf and if she hadn’t, who knows if it would have ever gotten published at all? She seems to have the same level of clout that appearing on Johnny Carson had on comedians- she could make or break you. The amount of great chefs that she fostered into the mainstream is amazing. She also advocated and published Irene Kuo’s wonderful Chinese cookbook “The Key to Chinese Cooking”, which sat dormant on my cookbook bookshelf until fairly recently and now I cook from it regularly. And according to one article i read, didn’t like her depiction in Julie and Julia, as they had her cancelling her visit to Julie’s apartment due to the weather - which someone said in real life, that would never keep Judith Jones away!
Judith kept a blog in association with The Pleasures of Cooking for One for a year.
It’s a very nice read.
