Martha Stewart’s First Book Finds New Fans
The New York Times
After fierce online bidding wars for vintage copies of “Entertaining,” a homemaking classic from 1982, the publisher decides to put it back in stores.
Martha Stewart has published 100 books across her long and eventful career, but perhaps none is more beloved than her first, “Entertaining.” Published in 1982, and long out of print, it has attracted a number of new fans who have lately paid up to $450 for an original hardcover copy. Because of its seemingly undying appeal, it will soon be back in bookstores in all its 1980s glory.
Two recent documentaries about Ms. Stewart — “The Many Lives of Martha Stewart,” which aired on CNN, and “Martha,” on Netflix — introduced the 83-year-old entrepreneur and O.G. influencer to a generation too young to have witnessed her rise, but that now admires her entrepreneurial hustle and self-determination. Some of these new fans want their own copies of “Entertaining,” which both films featured prominently.
Copies of the hardcover in good condition are listed at $173 and up on Amazon and the e-commerce site AbeBooks. There has also been plenty of action on eBay, where “Entertaining” has sold for as much as $311 and a pristine, shrink-wrapped copy is listed at more than $1,700.
Meredith Hayden, the former private chef behind the popular TikTok account Wishbone Kitchen, said in a widely shared video that she had lost four eBay bidding wars before winning her copy. Others have been visiting secondhand stores to score cheap used copies and posting humble brag videos when they do.
Speaking by phone, Ms. Stewart, who published her 100th book last fall, did not sound surprised by the surge of interest in “Entertaining,” especially among young people. “They have been avidly watching the documentary and were introduced to a new, cool, badass woman who wrote a book in 1982 that appeals to them,” she said.
