Kitchen Arts & Letters, books on food and drink

Do People Collect Martha Stewart’s Books? | Eater

"The New York culinary bookstore currently stocks Martha Stewart’s Cakes (2013), Cookie Perfection (2019), and Fruit Desserts (2021) (all three are on backorder). Managing partner Matt Sartwell says Stewart’s baking books "have always had a good rep[utation] and we stock them and sell them really well," but adds that "people don’t come sentimentally looking for copies of Martha Stewart’s [1983]Quick Cook." He suggests the culinary style in many older volumes "has changed in the same way that the way Martha dresses has changed, and so the food isn’t quite as appealing," while also noting Entertaining’s outsized influence — "It showed Martha in Laura Ashley dresses looking poised and confident, and that was appealing to people for whom ambitious [hosting] was something they hadn’t tried before." Sartwell also observes that "I think it’s something of a fantasy of publishers that somebody might collect everything someone has done," and that the last time the shop sold Entertaining it went for a modest $40." - Bettina Makalintal