Book of Judith

Judith Jones had the hands of a cook. She was never one to fuss over her looks—her slender frame, straight hair, and even straighter posture expressed a New England rectitude—but her hands, nonetheless, were a tell: slightly weathered, with nails unpolished, these were the hands of someone who sliced onions, kneaded bread, shredded pork, and cleaned fish.

That these hands also took a pen (always green) to the manuscripts of some of the best writers of our day spoke to the wide-ranging skills of one of America’s most modest yet accomplished book editors. As Sonny Mehta, Knopf’s longtime editor-in-chief after Robert Gottlieb departed in 1987 for The New Yorker, said, “Judith was the most civilized person in publishing.”