On Friday, April 1, 2016, the Stanford Libraries Acquisitions and Preservation departments, along with Kathleen Smith, the curator for the Germanic Collections, held a mini Edible Book Festival in Lathrop Library.

This annual international celebration takes place on April 1st of each year and commemorates the birthday of Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), the French gastronome who wrote one of the seminal founding works on gastronomy, Physiologie du gout or The Physiology of Taste. It also celebrates the playful spirit of April Fool’s Day by encouraging us to play with our food and to consume literature on a whole new level. The edible books on display in Lathrop Library included: "Lays Miserables," a pun on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables, by Sarah Forzetting; "Of Mice and Melons," a play on John Steinbeck's 1937 work Of Mice and Men, by Mary Wilkinson; "A Raisin in the Sun(chips)" by Suzette Caneda; Danish "Ham"let sandwiches by Alexis Manheim; and many more.

Mark your calendars for next year, and be sure to check out some of the other edible book festivals worldwide for more information and inspiration!