The price clipped jacket suffers from a series if short tears, one of which has been repaired from the inside and is chipped at the edges, but still remains respectable. Apart from a neat ownership signature, the body of the book is clean, unmarked and solid. 148 pages indexed, illustrated. " Ruth Eleanor "Peg" Bracken (February 25, 1918 - October 20, 2007) was an American author of humorous books on cooking, housekeeping, etiquette and travel......During the 1960s and 1970s, Bracken's writing reassured women that they did not have to be perfect to have a happy, well-managed home. Her best-known book is The I Hate to Cook Book, written in 1960. The book came about when she and some other working-women friends "pooled their ignorance" and came up with a core of recipes strong on ease of preparation. It was followed by The I Hate to Housekeep Book and The Appendix to the I Hate to Cook Book. The two cookbooks were later published together as The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book. All are illustrated with amusing line drawings by Hilary Knight (best known for illustrating Eloise by Kay Thompson). The recipes are distinguished by unusual names and peppered with sardonic comments." (Wikipedia)