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Judith Jones

Biographical Note

Judith Jones first made her mark in publishing as a young woman working in the Paris office of Doubleday, when she came upon a manuscript of The Diary of Anne Frank in a reject pile and enthusiastically recommended it for publication. That star turn gave her considerable credibility when, back in the United States working as an editor for Knopf, she urged the publishing house to pay attention to an unsolicited manuscript by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck that would become Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

A prominent fiction editor already, Jones went on to discover and edit not only the rest of Julia Child's books, but also books by some of the most successful cookbook authors in America, including Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Irene Kuo, Edna Lewis, and Joan Nathan. More than any other figure in publishing, she has helped to change the way America thinks about food. She has also authored books, both with her late husband Evan Jones and on her own. In 2006, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the James Beard Foundation.

Access Points

People:
Bastianich, Lidia
Beard, James, 1903-1985
Chapin, Paul
Child, Julia
Cunningham, Marion
David, Elizabeth, 1913-1992
Farmer, Fannie Merritt, 1857-1915
Frank, Anne, 1929-1945
Giobbi, Edward
Jaffrey, Madhur, 1933-
Jones, Evan, 1915-1996
Jones, Judith, 1924-
Knopf, Alfred A., 1892-1984
Knopf, Blanche W., 1894-1966
Kuo, Irene
Lewis, Edna
Malraux, André, 1901-1976
Pépin, Jacques
Roden, Claudia
Updike, John
Weil, Andrew
Wilson, José

Organizations:
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Doubleday and Company, Inc.

Subjects:
Authors and publishers
Bread
Cookbooks
Cooking, American -- History -- 20th century
Cooking, French
Cooking -- Study and teaching
Diet
Dinners and dining
Editing
Food habits
Food writing
Gastronomy
Manuscripts -- Editing
Publishers and publishing
Restaurants --- New York (State) -- New York

Interview 1, April 27, 2010

Box: Electronic Records, E-records: MSS_309.ref51.1 (Material Type: electronic records)

Scope and Content

Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Interview 2, May 7, 2010

Box: Electronic Records, E-records: MSS_309.ref53.1 (Material Type: electronic records)

Scope and Content

Running time: 1 hour, 9 minutes

Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012