[2] It was published privately during 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer (1877–1962), a homemaker in St. Louis, Missouri, after her husband's suicide the previous year.

Edgar committed suicide in 1930 after a severe bout of depression, widowing Irma at age 52 and leaving her with $6,000 in savings.

She paid them $3,000 to print 3,000 copies of The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat in November 1931.

[10]: 151–153 The 1936 edition differed from other commercial cookbooks of the era by its retention of the author's folksy comments and anecdotes, and its layout of the recipes.

[10]: 159–161  Joy reached the best-seller list in St. Louis and promoted as "the famous private cookbook" in the New York Times.

[9] In 1939, Rombauer published Streamlined Cooking, a collection of recipes that could be prepared in less than 30 minutes, with an emphasis on use of canned and frozen foods.

This book was not a commercial success,[10]: 166–169  but many of the recipes it contained became part of a new edition of Joy of Cooking published during 1943.

While substantially the same as its predecessor, the 1946 revision omitted the material related to wartime rationing and incorporated additional recipes from Streamlined Cooking.

[10]: 201 Relations between Rombauer and Bobbs-Merrill, never cordial, worsened during the late 1940s, and in the fracas Marion Becker gradually assumed increasing responsibility, at first regarding the book's design, and eventually its content.

Partly for legal reasons, the 1951 edition was published with Marion Rombauer Becker listed as co-author, and she received 40% of the royalties.

[10]: 262–270 Becker was a passionate advocate of healthy eating, and the 1951 edition was marked by an increased emphasis of such topics as whole grains and fresh produce.

Guarnaschelli, supervised by Rombauer's grandson Ethan Becker, managed the creation of the 1997 edition, published by Simon & Schuster's Charles Scribner's Sons division.

Much of the edition was ghostwritten by teams of expert chefs instead of the single dedicated amateur Irma Rombauer had been when she created the book.

[8] In 2006, Scribner published a 75th anniversary edition, containing 4,500 recipes, that reproduced much of Rombauer's original style.

[22] The Joy of Cooking became a bestseller originally due to its readability for the middle classes and Rombauer's unique style.

She specifically tested and practiced the recipes to ensure they could be produced easily in a relatively brief period of time without much complication.