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Leiths re-cooks its covers

04.04.08 Jessica Killick

Bloomsbury is to repackage its Leiths cookery backlist with a "clear, crisp and clean" look as it launches the newest title in the series.

The new book, Viv Pid­geon and Jenny Stringer's Leiths Simple Cookery Bible (h/b, £30), is published on 2nd June and aims to be a back-to-basics guide for people who are "time-pressed but would still like to eat tasty, homemade food". The book contains more than 700 recipes and 100 colour photographs.

The new look will also be rolled out to the five existing titles—Leiths Cookery Bible, Leiths Techniques Bible, Leiths Baking Bible, Leiths Fish Bible and Leiths Vegetarian Bible (rebranded as Vegetable Bible)—in June.

Richard Atkinson, Leiths series editor, said the rebranding will give a "little bit of extra momentum" to the list. He added: "The Leiths Bible series is different from almost any other brand in cookery publishing in that the books have complete longevity, unlike personality-driven cookery books. The new branding encapsulates, in one image, something of the authority and clarity of the books."

Recipes for the series are tested in Leiths School of Food and Wine, founded by restaurateur and caterer Prue Leith in 1975. Bloomsbury says the first book, Leiths Cookery Bible, written by Leith and Caroline Waldegrave and now in its third edition, has sold more than 200,000 copies since publication in 1988.

Publicity and marketing campaigns for the rebrand will seek to emphasise Leiths' "authoritative" voice, and Bloomsbury is in discussions with Waterstone's for a major promotion. Pidgeon and Stringer will promote their book by giving cookery demonstrations at food and literary festivals throughout the year.

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