Editing Joy of Cooking (section)

=== Fourth edition (1951) ===

Irma Rombauer was 69 years old when the 1946 edition of ''Joy'' was published, and her health was beginning to decline.<ref name=Mendelsohn />{{rp|194–195}} She was concerned about the future of her book, since Bobbs-Merrill (which owned the copyright for the original publication) might have selected an author of their own choosing for future editions once Rombauer was unable to continue. To ensure that the book remained a family project, Rombauer negotiated with the publisher a clause in her contract naming her daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, as her sole successor in any future revision.<ref name=Mendelsohn />{{rp|201}}

Relations between Rombauer and Bobbs-Merrill, never cordial, worsened during the late 1940s, and in the fracas Marion Becker gradually assumed increasing responsibility, at first regarding the book's design, and eventually its content. Partly for legal reasons, the 1951 edition was published with Marion Rombauer Becker listed as co-author, and she received 40% of the royalties.<ref name=Mendelsohn />{{rp|chap 8}} The authors strongly resisted the publisher's wish to illustrate the book with photographs and instead embellished the book with simple, functional line drawings by [[Ginnie Hofmann]], a friend of Becker's.<ref name="Mendelsohn" />{{rp|262–270}}

Becker was a passionate advocate of healthy eating, and the 1951 edition was marked by an increased emphasis of such topics as whole grains and fresh produce. Many of the old "can-opener" recipes from ''Streamlined Cooking'' were eliminated. This edition also was the first to introduce the use of the blender and other modern household items into its recipes. The number of recipes had increased to more than 4,000.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Because of the time taken by the protracted legal arguments, final editing of the 1951 edition was done hastily. The same edition was reprinted in 1952 with some errors corrected, and again during 1953 with a revised index.<ref name=listing />