Il talismano della felicità
Il talismano della felicità, written by magazine editor Ada Boni and published by Italian publishing house , is a well-known Italian cookbook originally published in 1929. It is believed to be the first Italian cookbook specifically targeted to housewives, and along with the work of Pellegrino Artusi and Editoriale Domus' Il cucchiaio d'argento is considered one of the defining recipe and cooking-advice collections in Italian cuisine. The standard edition is 1054 pages long and was last reissued in 1999; it was also available in an abridged version known as Il piccolo Talismano from the same publisher.
An extremely abridged translation, translated by Matilde La Rosa, who also added some "American-style" Italian recipes, with an introduction and glossary by Romance linguist Mario Pei, was published in 1950 as The Talisman Italian Cookbook: Italy's Bestselling Cookbook Adapted for American Kitchens. La Rosa and Pei decided to leave out recipes that were not of Italian origin for the American edition, and also added a few Italian-American recipes that were felt at the time to be necessary in an Italian cookbook. The La Rosa translation is now out of print.
