Editing Joy of Cooking (section)

=== Second edition (1936) ===
[[File:Joy_of_Cooking_editions.jpg|thumb|Editions of ''(The) Joy of Cooking'', from the 1st printing in 1931 (top left) to the most recent edition, published in 2019]]

After Rombauer had searched for a publisher and been rejected many times, the Bobbs-Merrill Company published an expanded (640 page) second edition on May 1, 1936.<ref name=listing>{{cite web|last=Jarvits|first=Janis|title=Joy of Cooking: a listing of the American editions|url=http://www.cookbkjj.com/college/joy.htm#facsimile|access-date=23 April 2013|archive-date=5 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105124723/http://www.cookbkjj.com/college/joy.htm#facsimile|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The company had limited experience with publishing cookbooks, and Rombauer, similarly inexperienced in dealing with publishers, performed the negotiations herself without an agent or lawyer. The resulting contract, in which Bobbs-Merrill was granted the copyright not only for the 1936 edition but also for the original 1931 version, resulted in many years of conflict between the author and the publisher.<ref name=Mendelsohn>{{cite book|last=Mendelson|first=Anne|title=Stand Facing the Stove|year=1996|publisher=Henry Holt|location=New York|isbn=0-8050-2904-4|url=https://archive.org/details/standfacingstove00mend}}</ref>{{rp|151–153}}

The 1936 edition differed from other commercial cookbooks of the era by its retention of the author's folksy comments and anecdotes, and its layout of the recipes.<ref name=Mendelsohn />{{rp|153–154}} Instead of listing the ingredients for a dish at the top with preparation directions following, the recipes in ''Joy'' (1936) were presented by narratives, with the ingredients indicated as the need for them occurred, with each placed in boldface on a new indented line — thus preserving a conversational style throughout the recipe. This method came to be known as the "action method".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thejoykitchen.com/all-about-joy/1936-edition|title=1936 Edition|website=The Joy of Cooking|access-date=2016-03-30|archive-date=2016-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322005917/http://thejoykitchen.com/all-about-joy/1936-edition|url-status=live}}</ref> These innovations, along with an aggressive marketing effort by Bobbs-Merrill, resulted in good sales.<ref name=Mendelsohn />{{rp|159–161}} ''Joy'' reached the best-seller list in St. Louis and promoted as "the famous private cookbook" in the ''New York Times''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Display ad 85 -- no title.|date=1936-05-03|work=New York Times|id = {{ProQuest|101893383}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Best sellers of the week, here and elsewhere.|date=2016-06-14|work=New York Times|id = {{ProQuest|106594650}}}}</ref> By the end of 1942, the second edition had had six printings, and 52,151 copies had been sold.<ref name=listing />