Judith Jones, Editor

A new biography tells the story of the legendary book editor. Plus: A recipe from Judith Jones x Julia Child.

Cover of THE EDITOR Courtesy of Atria Books/Simon and Schuster, 2024.

You think you know a person...and then you start reading the galley of Sara B. Franklin’s THE EDITOR and realize just how much you still have to learn about her subject (and one of my heroes), Judith Jones.

The word “legend” is often attached to Jones, and she deserves it. She’s perhaps remembered most for two things.

She retrieved a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl (published in the Netherlands in 1947) from a reject pile while working in the Paris office of Doubleday. Judith championed its 1952 publication in America with the new title Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

And early in her career at Alfred A. Knopf, Jones saw the value in the 800-page manuscript of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She became Julia Child’s editor and friend and Mastering was a groundbreaking success.

Judith Jones and Julia Child. Courtesy of Sara B. Franklin/Literary Hub

But, wow, there’s so much more to Judith’s richly interesting life and Sara B. Franklin has shared it in her book. It’s a compelling and poignant portrait.

Ms. Franklin interviewed, spent time with and befriended Judith Jones starting in 2013. When Ms. Jones died in 2017 at the age 93, her stepdaughter, Bronwyn Dunne, gave access to Judith’s papers, correspondence and notes to Ms. Franklin.

The work of John Updike, Anne Tyler, Sylvia Plath, Edna Lewis, Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden,Joan Nathan — the list goes on and on — all bore the marks of Judith Jones’ green editing pencil.

The Taste of Country Cooking, 50th Anniversary Edition. Edna Lewis and Judith Jones became great friends during the editing process and would cook together and listen to music in Ms. Jones Manhattan Kitchen.

And the support and care for the writers Jones shepherded was genuine.

Judith Jones edited The New Book of Middle Eastern Food and chef Claudia Roden thanked Jones in the acknowledgments for her “enthusiasm and very high standards, her advice and her appreciation of good food and culinary traditions…”

Madhur Jaffrey speaks of her editor Judith Jones glowingly in this EATER piece. Link: Here

Joan Nathan writes fondly about Judith Jones in The Washington Post: Here

As Ms. Franklin rightly asserts, Judith Jones influenced American culture over the course of her sixty-year career in publishing.

The publication date for THE EDITOR is scheduled for May 28, 2024 and is currently available for pre-order: HERE

Thank you to Atria Books/Simon & Schuster for graciously providing the galley to me.

I’ll be writing a guest post in March for Elizabeth Held’s

What to read if

about Judith Jones and her memoir The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, so stay tuned.

Judith Jones, The Pleasures of Cooking for One, 2009

Judith Jones in 2009 demonstrating a recipe from The Pleasures of Cooking for One. Photo: Getty Images

In the introduction to Judith Jones 2009 book The Pleasures of Cooking for One she writes this:

After my husband, Evan, died in 1996, I was not sure that I would ever enjoy preparing a meal for myself and eating alone. But as I described in The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, I was wrong, and I soon realized that the pleasure that we shared together was something to honor.

Evan and Judith had been married since 1951.

Judith continues:

I found myself at the end of the day looking forward to cooking, making recipes that work for one, and then sitting down and savoring a good meal.

I love this book and besides the great recipes I also love the photos and the way Judith set a pretty table every evening for herself.

I’ve adapted her very simple Baked Eggs recipe and given them the Julia Child treatment (cooked in a water bath “Bain-Marie”) and made Oeufs en Cocotte. I had what I’ve come to call one of my “Cutting Board Lunches” and made it fancy, just for myself.

Everybody in to the water! Photo: Jolene

Recipe:

1 cups of fresh spinach, wilted

1/4 cup of Gruyère (or whatever cheese you have on hand) grated

2 tbsp. cream

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 oz. cocotte or ramekin. Place wilted (microwaved) spinach at the base of the ramekin and add 2 tbsp. cream. Place half of the grated cheese over spinach. Place cocotte/ramekin in a pan of simmering water (water should be about halfway up) and let it heat the ingredients a bit. Then, make a well in the center and crack two eggs in. Add a grind of fresh pepper (no salt, Julia says that makes eggs tough - salt after) add remaining cheese on top. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes (more if you want firmer yolks).

My Cutting Board Lunch. Photo: Jolene

It’s fitting that the green pie pan I used for the water bath is by the company Great Jones. Their products take inspiration from both Judith Jones and Great Jones Street in NYC. For more on their story and this connection to Judith, here’s the link:

https://greatjonesgoods.com

Of all the many qualities I’ve admired about Judith Jones, it was her endless curiosity that really got to me.

So the next time I make a scrumptious cutting board lunch for one, I’ll raise a glass of something delicious in her honor and thank her for the reminder to stay curious.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Jolene

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