Edna Ferber

Roast Beef, Medium : The Business Adventures of Emma McChesney was first published in 1913. It chronicles the adventures of perhaps the only a successful traveling saleswoman in literary history, a stellar employee of T. A. Buck's Featherloom Petticoats. Emma is the divorced mother of a 17-year-old son Jock, who also makes a few appearances. The title refers to the only consistently good road food, in Emma's opinion : roast beef.
The illustrated edition contains 27 illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg.