Some classic cookbooks are getting a reprint

A small selection of classic but out-of-print cookbooks are getting a second chance, thanks to the website Cookstr and Picador, a subsidiary of publishing giant Macmillan. In 2014 Macmillan purchased Cookstr, which was created by Will Schwalbe, who stayed on after the acquisition to lead this and other projects. Starting in May, the first three reissued cookbooks will be released. 

Schwalbe is excited about the concept. “One of the things that was part of the guiding philosophy of Cookstr is celebrating great cookbook authors,” he told Publishers Weekly. “When people think of the food world, they think of chefs, but they forget that many of the great cookbooks were written by cookbook authors…[Ones] you love and use and treasure and pass on.”

Picador wanted to highlight books aimed primarily at home cooks and which have a literary bent. The May releases certainly live up to these criteria. The inaugural selections are The Confident Cook by Irena Chalmers (first published in 1975), Sameen Rushdie’s Indian Cookery (released in 1988), and Cooking in a Small Kitchen by Arthur Schwartz (published in 1979). 

Each book will maintain its original formatting and include the same recipes, headnotes, and black and white illustrations, but the books will be updated with a new foreword and new cover designs. The covers feature a retro aesthetic, which is perfect for these books, which buck the current trend of glossy color photographs.