STANDING ROOM ONLY; A COOKBOOK FOR ENTERTAINING. [Cook book sponsored by the New Stage Theatre, Jackson, Mississippi with a short essay by contributor Eudora Welty.]

First edition, first printing (with publisher's requisite statement for latter upon copyright page). 380, [4] pages. Paperback: H 23cm x L 15.75cm. Blue paper covers in a white plastic comb-style binder; slight wear at covers' edges; front cover lightly rubbed but strong rubbing to rear cover. A few small stains to text block edges. Bottom fore-edge corner of pages 121-122 creased from past fold-in; a few scattered spots of minor soiling to interior leaves which overall remain quite clean. Binding is firm with plastic teeth all intact. A very good copy. This cookbook had several printings but first printing copies are uncommon. One page Introduction by Beth Henley, winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Three page essay titled A NOTE ABOUT NEW STAGE by Eudora Welty, winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Literature as well as many other literary awards and honors. Features sections on beverages, appetizers, salads, soups, breads, vegetables, eggs, cheese, seafood, poultry, meats, pasta, Mexican dishes, desserts, and accompaniments as well as a buying guide and bar stocking advice for a party of fifty guests. Welty served as a board member for the New Stage Theatre for many years and a comic opera based on her novel THE PONDER HEART premiered at the Jackson, Mississippi playhouse in 1982. Welty's lighthearted essay reviews the history and personal reminiscences of the New Stage Theatre and its predecessor known as the Little Theatre. Bibliographer Noel Polk lists Welty's contribution as among her significant short non-fiction works - cited as #C74 in Polk's EUDORA WELTY; A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HER WORK. {Gastronomy-Shelf#2}. …