Book By Its Cover » I Know How To Cook

1.28.10

I Know How To Cook

Ginette Mathiot

I fell in love with this book when I saw it at the store and immediately went home to order it. Not only is it a cooking bible (apparently it’s the French’s equivalent to How To Cook Everything which I use all the time) but the illustrations and design are immaculate. It has great clean typography throughout, beautiful images of select dishes and incredibly fun illustrations by Blexbolex- whose recent book I featured here. When my book came in the mail it had this gigantic ugly yellow sticker on it. And since I had bought the book mostly because of the illustrations there was no question that this sticker had to be removed. Well, I ruined my cover wrap trying to get it off. Usually they put those very easy peel stickers on books. I assumed that’s what this was, but oh no, half the paper ripped as I pulled it up. So I tried to stick it back down and that didn’t work either. So how I have an awful half ripped cover- which kills me! I almost want a new copy (hint hint Phaidon) because it bothers me so much. The cover wrap opens up into a large poster sized drawing. The illustrated chapter openers that stretch a full spread are my favorite part. But then throughout the book are playful spot illustrations which correspond to the recipes. I haven’t cooked anything from the book yet. I’m not even sure I want to keep this book with my other cookbooks or secure a nice place for it on my art book shelves. Get a copy of the book here- but if it has a sticker on it- don’t mess with it!

14 Comments

01/28/10 11:49am

Enia wrote

this is amazing! i was just in blackwells in oxford today and said to my companion “phaidon will bankrupt me” in relation to this book, how beautiful it is, and how much i want it. can’t believe though about the sticker, they should have a nice removable one like the silver spoon came with…

01/28/10 12:28pm

Neil wrote

If you saw it in the store, why did you go home and order it? Did the store copy have a big sticker in the cover?

01/28/10 12:35pm

julia wrote

because the amazon price is half as much as the list price. Since I buy so many books I can’t afford to pay full price.

01/28/10 2:02pm

Sara wrote

This is so gorgeous! one of my complaints with a lot of cookbooks is their lack of great design (oftentimes). It makes each recipe seem a bit more daunting.

01/28/10 5:30pm

lucy wrote

ooh lovely, blexbolex is my new favourite – have you seen la saisons? anyone know anything about him/her?

01/28/10 6:11pm

Will @ A Journey Round My Skull wrote

Thanks for highlighting this book. I love Blexbolex too, but probably would have missed this one.

As someone who has spent hours (days!) painstakingly peeling stickers off books and vinyl lp jackets, I heartily recommend investing in “Sticker Lifter” from Goo Gone. The best $3 you will ever spend, even though it doesn’t work on *everything.* (Some stickers will never come off…ever.)

01/28/10 6:30pm

s wrote

didn’t know this one. thanks! this one also has a gorgeous cover wrap: http://prateleira-de-baixo.blogspot.com/2009/04/imaginario.html

01/28/10 7:49pm

C wrote

I hate hate hate ugly half-ripped stickers that ruin book covers– happens a lot with magazines for me too. I’ve found the best way to peel tough stickers easily off books is to turn a hair dryer on low (basically as low as possible, but warm) and hover it over the sticker back and forth for a while. The adhesive softens a bit and is less damaging when pulled off.

On the topic of the book itself– I’m usually more of a fan of cookbooks with photos, but the illustrations are so well done here that I don’t mind at all!

01/28/10 8:22pm

lucy wrote

yummy book — yucky sticker! i’m new to your blog and am enjoying it so much. thanks for sharing such wonderful books.

01/29/10 9:58am

kelly wrote

ahh! i had that problem too and it made me so angry! i wrote to phaidon with no avail and even went to the store and complained. The only thing they could do was offer to secretly give me a new cover if I bought a different book in the store.

the illustrations are so lovely though!

01/31/10 8:20pm

mary beth Wauben wrote

Yeah, that sticker had to come off of my copy as well. but i didn’t have the trouble you had and it came off easily enough, so sorry! geez, just shy of ripping a hole into a picasso, eh?

02/22/10 10:37am

tifanie wrote

wow. this looks amazing. thanks for the review! running out to get. it. now… :::

02/23/10 9:52am

marie wrote

It’s wonderfull!, I have the hold french édition of Ginette Mathiot in french, “Je sais cuisiner” and it’s very ugly!!! I wish i have this one buy Blexbolex but i dont find it in french and my english is too bad for cook books!
Thank you and sorry for your cover…

02/25/10 2:40pm

Pitusa wrote

I so do the same, I go home and order through Amazon….love your site, made a link on mine as one of my favorite blogs…all the best.

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