# Is "The Edna Lewis Cookbook" by Edna Lewis (with Evangeline Peterson) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Edna Lewis Cookbook by Edna Lewis (with Evangeline Peterson) (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1972) is identified by: First edition carries the Bobbs-Merrill imprint, dated 1972; recipes arranged in seasonal menu form (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Christmas). The US Bobbs-Merrill 1972 edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition carries the Bobbs-Merrill imprint, dated 1972; recipes arranged in seasonal menu form (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Christmas)
- Jacket design by Norman Ives with a photograph by John T. Hill
- The copyright page carries no later-printing data
- Bobbs-Merrill of this period did not use a consistent stated-first slug, so identification rests on the 1972 imprint and the absence of later-printing notation
- Lewis's first book
- Publisher imprint reads The Bobbs-Merrill Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edna Lewis (with Evangeline Peterson) |
| Publisher | The Bobbs-Merrill Company |
| Year | 1972 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition carries the Bobbs-Merrill imprint, dated 1972; recipes arranged in seasonal menu form (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Christmas) |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition carries the Bobbs-Merrill imprint, dated 1972; recipes arranged in seasonal menu form (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Christmas). Jacket design by Norman Ives with a photograph by John T. Hill. The copyright page carries no later-printing data; Bobbs-Merrill of this period did not use a consistent stated-first slug, so identification rests on the 1972 imprint and the absence of later-printing notation. Lewis's first book.

## Is this the true first?
The US Bobbs-Merrill 1972 edition is the true first. It precedes her better-known The Taste of Country Cooking of 1976; the two are distinct titles.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Far scarcer than the 1976 title. A later reissue from Axios Press exists and is not the first. Watch for ex-library copies.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Edna Lewis Cookbook* by Edna Lewis (with Evangeline Peterson) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-edna-lewis-cookbook
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.