Steinbeck, JohnBiblio.com
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1929rif. 70009New York: Robert M. McBride & Company 1929. First edition of Steinbeck's first book one of about 1500 copies. The publisher printed 2476 copies 939 of which were remaindered as unbound sheets. Octavo original cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing to the extremities. Comes with the original publisher's glassine. Housed in a custom cloth case. Rare especially in this condition. “Written when Steinbeck was 27 years old and published in an edition of 2476 copies just two weeks before the stock market crashed Cup of Gold is a historical romance about the life of the pirate Henry Morgan” Valentine 1. From the mid-1650s through the 1660s Morgan a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama the "cup of gold." Steinbeck’s first novel and sole work of historical fiction. Robert M. McBride & Company hardcover
1937rif. 152672New York: Covici-Friede 1937. First edition of the dramatic version of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men wittily inscribed by him. Octavo original publisher's cloth. Lengthily signed by the author and also initialed on the half-title “by an author in 1 Act. John Steinbeck a walking mouse who dances from man to mouse J.S.” Steinbeck adapted his celebrated 1937 novel for the stage the same year and the play opened on Broadway that November. From the library of Otis L. Guernsey Jr. 1918-2001 the distinguished American drama and film critic and for more than three decades editor of the Best Plays theatre yearbook. Guernsey spent nineteen years at the New York Herald Tribune rising from copy boy to become the paper’s film and drama critic and arts editor before taking over the Best Plays series in 1964 and editing some thirty-six annual volumes an unrivaled record of the American stage. As one of the foremost theatre critics of his generation he moved in the same New York literary and theatrical world in which Steinbeck whose novels and plays were mainstays of stage and screen loomed so large. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco and folding chemise slipcase. A wonderful signed and playfully inscribed copy. Of Mice and Men the tragic story of the migrant ranch hands George and the gentle giant Lennie and their doomed dream of a place of their own is among the most widely read and taught works in American literature. John Steinbeck adapted his 1937 novel into a play the same year and the stage version won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for the 1937-1938 season. Steinbeck 1902-1968 went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath in 1940 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 and Of Mice and Men has been filmed several times notably in 1939 with Lon Chaney Jr. and Burgess Meredith and in 1992 with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. Covici-Friede hardcover
1947rif. 152649New York: The Viking Press 1947. First edition of this classic work by the Nobel Prize-winning writer a novel about a busload of lost souls on the back roads of California. Octavo original cloth. With a full page inscription by Steinbeck on the front free endpaper written in Spanish with a closing line in Latin the inscription reads in translation “The first title of this book was El Camión Vacilador. It is very difficult to translate this title. It means: we are puppets and we are hoping! I hope! John Steinbeck. Pray for us now and in the hour of our death. J.S.” This inscription is a remarkable piece of Steinbeck bibliographic history. The Wayward Bus was John Steinbeck's first novel following his Nobel Prize-era masterworks a sprawling allegorical narrative set aboard a broken-down bus carrying a cross-section of American travelers through the California backcountry that Steinbeck conceived as a modern American equivalent of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The inscription in this copy reveals that Steinbeck's original preferred title for the novel was El Camión Vacilador a Spanish phrase that he himself acknowledges is extremely difficult to translate precisely explaining in his own hand that it means something along the lines of "we are uncertain ones" or "we are waverers" — a concept captured in the wavering hesitating lurching motion of the bus itself as a metaphor for the moral and existential uncertainty of its passengers. The choice of a Spanish title reflects Steinbeck's deep and lifelong immersion in the culture and language of California's Mexican and Mexican-American communities a preoccupation that had informed Tortilla Flat 1935 and Cannery Row 1945 and that gave his California fiction much of its distinctive texture and voice. That Viking Press elected the more commercially accessible English title The Wayward Bus over Steinbeck's preferred Spanish original is a small but revealing episode in the history of American publishing and the author's wry inscription — closing with the Latin ora pro nobis nunc et in hora mortis "pray for us now and in the hour of our death" — suggests a characteristically mordant Steinbeck humor about the fate of titles at the hands of publishers From the library of Otis L. Guernsey Jr. 1918-2001 the distinguished American drama and film critic and for more than three decades editor of the Best Plays theatre yearbook. Guernsey spent nineteen years at the New York Herald Tribune rising from copy boy to become the paper’s film and drama critic and arts editor before taking over the Best Plays series in 1964 and editing some thirty-six annual volumes an unrivaled record of the American stage. As one of the foremost theatre critics of his generation he moved in the same New York literary and theatrical world in which Steinbeck whose novels and plays were mainstays of stage and screen loomed so large. The Wayward Bus itself would reach the screen in 1957. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Robert Hallock. A unique example regarding the history of this book from the Steinbeck's point of view. In his first novel to follow the enormous success of The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck’s vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California’s back roads transporting the lost and the lonely the good and the greedy the stupid and the scheming the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and possibly toward the promise of the future. Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath in 1940 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. A Book-of-the-Month Club selection and best seller on its appearance The Wayward Bus was the basis for the 1957 film starring Jayne Mansfield Joan Collins Dan Dailey and Rick Jason. The Viking Press hardcover
1929rif. 140946499New York: Robert M. McBride & Company 1929. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition first printing first issue. 269 pp. Bound in publisher's original yellow cloth with titles stamped in black blue topstain. Near Fine with light fading to spine modest soiling to cloth and minor wear at extremities. Moderating foxing to all edges with slight offsetting at endsheets. Minor toning and light foxing to contents. In a Near Fine price-clipped dust jacket with fading to spine short split at foot of front spine joint with light associated creasing to the bottom of the front panel. Foxing to verso. Steinbeck's scarce first novel of 17th-century historical fiction. Uncommon in the original dust jacket. Goldstone A1. Robert M. McBride & Company unknown
1939rif. 367906New York: The Viking Press 1939. First edition. 619 pp. 8vo. Tan cloth decoratively stamped in brown on cover and spine; unclipped dust jacket with small closed tear to upper rear; spine lightly sunned. First edition. 619 pp. 8vo. The Classic Novel of the Great Depression. The tale of the Joad family as they travel across the country from Oklahoma to California in the midst of the Great Depression is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It is Steinbeck's masterpiece. The Grapes of Wrath won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer and was central in the awarding of Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. The Viking Press unknown
1929rif. 140946499New York: Robert M. McBride & Company 1929. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition first printing first issue. 269 pp. Bound in publisher's original yellow cloth with titles stamped in black blue topstain. Near Fine with light fading to spine modest soiling to cloth and minor wear at extremities. Moderating foxing to all edges with slight offsetting at endsheets. Minor toning and light foxing to contents. In a Near Fine price-clipped dust jacket with fading to spine short split at foot of front spine joint with light associated creasing to the bottom of the front panel. Foxing to verso. Steinbeck's scarce first novel of 17th-century historical fiction. Uncommon in the original dust jacket. Goldstone A1. Robert M. McBride & Company unknown books
1939rif. 367906New York: The Viking Press 1939. First edition. 619 pp. 8vo. Tan cloth decoratively stamped in brown on cover and spine; unclipped dust jacket with small closed tear to upper rear; spine lightly sunned. First edition. 619 pp. 8vo. The Classic Novel of the Great Depression. The tale of the Joad family as they travel across the country from Oklahoma to California in the midst of the Great Depression is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It is Steinbeck's masterpiece. The Grapes of Wrath won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer and was central in the awarding of Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. The Viking Press unknown books
1925rif. 70003ca. 1925-1930. in the original frame. Very fine original condition. This portrait was presented by Blaine to Steinbeck and remained in his possession for the rest of his life. From the estate of Steinbeck's sister Elizabeth Ainsworth. Mahlon Blaine designed the dust jackets and endpapers of both "Cup of Gold" and "To a God Unknown." Almost certainly one of the earliest portraits of John Steinbeck. unknown
1936rif. 140947502New York: Covici-Friede 1936. First Edition Limited Issue. Fine. Limited first edition Printer's Copy B to match the numbered edition of 99 copies. Signed by John Steinbeck on the limitation page at rear. 349 pp. Bound in publisher's beige and black cloth with gilt lettering to spine red topstain. Fine with very slight lean to spine dust-soiling to upper edge of textblock. In a somewhat rubbed original black paper-covered slipcase paper title label to spine. Housed in a custom oatmeal cloth clamshell case with a gilt-lettered black morocco title label to spine. Goldstone-Payne A5.a. A very rare copy of an edition scarce to begin with. Just 99 numbered and signed copies of Steinbeck's famous strike novel were published simultaneously with the first trade edition in 1936; this copy is signed but not numbered and an ink inscription below the signature states: "Printer's Copy B." The number of lettered copies is unknown. Covici-Friede unknown
1935rif. 149596New York: Covici-Friede Publishers 1935. First edition of Steinbeck's first commercially successful book. Octavo original cloth illustrated. Presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "For George Good with regards John Steinbeck." Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Laid in is an old pamphlet of Monterey the capital of old California. Illustrated by Ruth Gannett. One of the most difficult books in the Steinbeck canon to locate signed. Set in Monterey California Tortilla Flat tells the story of a small band of paisanos who resist the the corrupting tides of honest toil in favor of a life of adventure. It is the story of Danny who home from the war inherits two houses which at once become a haven for his friends and lovers not unlike the chivalric order of King Arthur and his court the Knights of the Round Table. It deals with the band's adventuring multiple loves and wonderful brawls and Gargantuan wine-drinking. "An utterly unprecedented sort of book and hard to analyze in its unique charm" Virginia Kirkus. Covici-Friede Publishers hardcover
1936rif. 140947502New York: Covici-Friede 1936. First Edition Limited Issue. Fine. Limited first edition Printer's Copy B to match the numbered edition of 99 copies. Signed by John Steinbeck on the limitation page at rear. 349 pp. Bound in publisher's beige and black cloth with gilt lettering to spine red topstain. Fine with very slight lean to spine dust-soiling to upper edge of textblock. In a somewhat rubbed original black paper-covered slipcase paper title label to spine. Housed in a custom oatmeal cloth clamshell case with a gilt-lettered black morocco title label to spine. Goldstone-Payne A5.a. A very rare copy of an edition scarce to begin with. Just 99 numbered and signed copies of Steinbeck's famous strike novel were published simultaneously with the first trade edition in 1936; this copy is signed but not numbered and an ink inscription below the signature states: "Printer's Copy B." The number of lettered copies is unknown. Covici-Friede unknown books
1932rif. 140949836New York: Brewer Warren & Putnam 1932. First Edition. Near Fine/Very Good. First edition first printing; one of 650 copies of the first issue. vi 294 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth lettered in gilt black topstain. Near Fine with slight lean to spine light fading to extremities and pulled thread at upper edge of rear board. Light offsetting to endpapers several rear pages roughly cut. In a Very Good first issue unclipped dust jacket 195 mm tall with light dampstaining and rippling to spine panel moderate wear and pencil inscription to front flap. Goldstone & Payne A2a. John Steinbeck's second book was printed in a run of 2500 copies of which 1650 were bound and about 650 sold. The unsold copies bound and unbound were sold to the publisher Robert O. Ballou and rebound for the second third and fourth issues. Steinbeck would not see commercial success until the publication of his fifth book Tortilla Flat but The Pastures of Heaven received good reviews that heralded his future accolades. "Californians should take notice of this novel by one of its native sons" wrote The Los Angeles Times and Californians certainly did. Brewer, Warren & Putnam unknown
1932rif. 140949836New York: Brewer Warren & Putnam 1932. First Edition. Near Fine/Very Good. First edition first printing; one of 650 copies of the first issue. vi 294 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth lettered in gilt black topstain. Near Fine with slight lean to spine light fading to extremities and pulled thread at upper edge of rear board. Light offsetting to endpapers several rear pages roughly cut. In a Very Good first issue unclipped dust jacket 195 mm tall with light dampstaining and rippling to spine panel moderate wear and pencil inscription to front flap. Goldstone & Payne A2a. John Steinbeck's second book was printed in a run of 2500 copies of which 1650 were bound and about 650 sold. The unsold copies bound and unbound were sold to the publisher Robert O. Ballou and rebound for the second third and fourth issues. Steinbeck would not see commercial success until the publication of his fifth book Tortilla Flat but The Pastures of Heaven received good reviews that heralded his future accolades. "Californians should take notice of this novel by one of its native sons" wrote The Los Angeles Times and Californians certainly did. Brewer, Warren & Putnam unknown books
1939rif. 21205711939. New York: Viking. 1939. 8vo. Original tan pictorial cloth with dust wrapper displaying ""$2.75"" and ""First edition"" endpapers with reproduction of the Battle Hymn of the Republic; pp. 619; dust jacket with minimal wear to the corners a little toning to edges a couple of spots of browning generally very good indeed.First edition. Steinbeck's masterpiece and literature's lasting testament to the Great Depression it won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize and was singled-out as a ""great work.an epic chronicle"" in his citation for the Nobel Prize in 1962. This book is one of the great American novels the travails of Tom Joad and his family struggling through the Depression in the Dust Bowl having become legendary. The book has inspired films plays operas and popular music but nothing compares to the stripped back beauty of Steinbeck's prose; ""To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma the last rains came gently and they did not cut the scarred earth"". Copies in this condition are extremely hard to find.The iconic jacket design is by the children's illustrator Elmer Hader. His collaboration was specifically requested by Steinbeck who loved his work in the 1936 book Billy Butter and Hader went on to design later books such as East of Eden. Goldstone & Payne A12a. hardcover
rif. JD29949NY Viking 1939 first edition first printing dust jacket. Hardcover. No book is more identified with John Steinbeck than this masterpiece which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and which was the source for the film version directed by John Ford that starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and which won Jane Darwell an Academy Award for her portrayal of Ma Joad the book was also the source for the Tony Award-winning Broadway play one of the true high spots of 20th Century literature jacket designed by Elmer Hader this is an incredibly scarce Review Copy with review slip from Viking this is the only review copy seen by this bookseller in more than 60 years of being involved in all things Steinbeck see Goldstone & Payne A12a see Morrow 107. Fine in a jacket with a couple of small tape ghosts from where the review slip was previously affixed jacket is otherwise clean bright and fine. NY, Viking, 1939, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover. hardcover
rif. JD29949NY Viking 1939 first edition first printing dust jacket. Hardcover. No book is more identified with John Steinbeck than this masterpiece which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and which was the source for the film version directed by John Ford that starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and which won Jane Darwell an Academy Award for her portrayal of Ma Joad the book was also the source for the Tony Award-winning Broadway play one of the true high spots of 20th Century literature jacket designed by Elmer Hader this is an incredibly scarce Review Copy with review slip from Viking this is the only review copy seen by this bookseller in more than 60 years of being involved in all things Steinbeck see Goldstone & Payne A12a see Morrow 107. Fine in a jacket with a couple of small tape ghosts from where the review slip was previously affixed jacket is otherwise clean bright and fine. NY, Viking, 1939, first edition, first printing, dust jacket. Hardcover. hardcover books
1937rif. 140946360New York: Covici Friede 1937. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition first printing first issue with "pendula" on page 9 and a bullet between the two 8's of the page number on page 88. Signed by John Steinbeck on the front free endpaper and inscribed to a former owner. 186 pp. Bound in publisher's cloth stamped in orange and black. Near Fine with slight lean to binding contents lightly tanned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light toning to spine minor edge wear with several short closed tears. Small strip of offsetting to verso at spine from a previous dust jacket protector. A scarce signed edition of John Steinbeck's Western novella about the struggles of two itinerant farm workers George and Lennie in California during the Great Depression. One of only 2500 copies printed in the first issue. Covici Friede unknown
1937rif. 140946360New York: Covici Friede 1937. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition first printing first issue with "pendula" on page 9 and a bullet between the two 8's of the page number on page 88. Signed by John Steinbeck on the front free endpaper and inscribed to a former owner. 186 pp. Bound in publisher's cloth stamped in orange and black. Near Fine with slight lean to binding contents lightly tanned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light toning to spine minor edge wear with several short closed tears. Small strip of offsetting to verso at spine from a previous dust jacket protector. A scarce signed edition of John Steinbeck's Western novella about the struggles of two itinerant farm workers George and Lennie in California during the Great Depression. One of only 2500 copies printed in the first issue. Covici Friede unknown books
1929rif. 319434New York: Robert M. McBride 1929. First edition first issue of the author's first book. vi 269 3 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Original yellow cloth titled in black on front cover and spine top edge stained blue; pictorial dust jacket designed by Mahlon Blaine with $2.50 price present; tan cloth slipcase. The cloth in unusually bright condition; the jacket spine panel lightly faded and with wear at ends touching the top of titling a few abrasions to front and back panels. Despite these flaws a bright and entirely original copy of a book infrequently found in collector's condition. First edition first issue of the author's first book. vi 269 3 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. FIRST EDITION of the future Nobel laureate's elusive first book published when he was 27 years old. One of 1537 copies the publisher printed 2476 copies 939 of which were remaindered as unbound sheets. This was Steinbeck's fourth attempt at a novel and was rewritten six times from an unpublished story titled "A Lady in Infra-Red" which he composed while at Stanford. "Aside from a few reviews the only early recognition . was Berton Braley's 'thanks and acknowledgements' for Steinbeck's permission to use some of the incidents in a doggerel epic 'Morgan Sails the Caribbean' 1934" Peter Lisca 'The Wide World of John Steinbeck' Rutgers UP 1958. Goldstone & Payne A1a Robert M. McBride unknown
1961rif. 0225581961-1967. Letter. Some folds clean. Near Fine. Includes 6 AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED John Steinbeck John or JS 1 TYPED LETTER SIGNED John and a partial AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED John all to Willard Bascom regarding Project Mohole and other matters 11 pages total various sizes and papers from Barbados Singapore and New York 15 February 1961 to 4 March 1967 including autograph transmittal envelope for March 4. Willard Bascom was a scientist and adventurer who in 1961 led the first phase of Project Mohole the worlds first attempt to sample the Mohorovicic discontinuity Moho where the earth's mantle and its crust meet. Bascom invited Steinbeck to join the expedition and Steinbeck wrote about the venture in an April 1961 LIFE MAGAZINE article. These letters reveal the foundations of their relationship as well as Steinbeck's participation and assistance to the projects beginnings exhibiting Steinbeck's relationships to the President and Washington: "It occurs to me to ask whether you will have motion picture cameras for recording purposes. Such a record would be valuable. It might also have some value in prying more money for future experimental work either from the congress or from the president. For my own part I intend to make the President personally aware of the project as soon as I have a proper understanding and basis." He also offers insight into the TIME MAGAZINE relationship: I made them read it back to me on the phone so I was sure that I had written what they printed. The letters show a developing friendship with Bascom and reveal the personal Steinbeck as he moved through his final years. Of a potential trip Steinbeck writes I am not going any places any more without Elaine. Life is too short to be away from her. He continues discussing his work presumably on TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY I have been living a fairly anchoretic life in this tower their NYC apartment. Working like a death watch beetle. Not only am I interested in what I am doing I want to get it finished. These letters reveal the life of Steinbeck in the 1960s both professionally and personally. WITH: A sweatshirt given to Bascom by John Steinbeck on the expedition navy blue knit cotton hooded sweatshirt front pouch pocket without maker's label or size indication unevenly faded soiling stains and some paint flecks. Steinbeck who bunked with Bascom on the Mohole expedition bought the sweatshirt for Bascom fearing that he would be cold as he was working his tail off on board ship. It matches one Steinbeck wore himself on board. See Benson JOHN STEINBECK WRITER New York 1984 pages 894-6. unknown books
1929rif. 319434New York: Robert M. McBride 1929. First edition first issue of the author's first book. vi 269 3 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Original yellow cloth titled in black on front cover and spine top edge stained blue; pictorial dust jacket designed by Mahlon Blaine with $2.50 price present; tan cloth slipcase. The cloth in unusually bright condition; the jacket spine panel lightly faded and with wear at ends touching the top of titling a few abrasions to front and back panels. Despite these flaws a bright and entirely original copy of a book infrequently found in collector's condition. First edition first issue of the author's first book. vi 269 3 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. FIRST EDITION of the future Nobel laureate's elusive first book published when he was 27 years old. One of 1537 copies the publisher printed 2476 copies 939 of which were remaindered as unbound sheets. This was Steinbeck's fourth attempt at a novel and was rewritten six times from an unpublished story titled "A Lady in Infra-Red" which he composed while at Stanford. "Aside from a few reviews the only early recognition . was Berton Braley's 'thanks and acknowledgements' for Steinbeck's permission to use some of the incidents in a doggerel epic 'Morgan Sails the Caribbean' 1934" Peter Lisca 'The Wide World of John Steinbeck' Rutgers UP 1958. Goldstone & Payne A1a Robert M. McBride unknown books
rif. 69902in the original frames; about 17 x 12 inches to 18 x 16 inches overall. Some nicks and use to the frames; one coin-sized tidemark and some extremely light foxing to the portrait of Ma Joad; portraits otherwise fine. Various sizes. From the estate of Elizabeth Ainsworth the author's sister. These portraits were issued separately in collection with the 1940 release of the Limited Edition Club's edition of the novel illustrated by Benton. They were presented to Steinbeck by the artist at that time and remained in Steinbeck's possession for the rest of his life. unknown
rif. JD29396n.p. NY n.p. The Viking Press n.d. 1944 first edition wrappers. Softcover. Advance copy an uncorrected galley proof bound in plain unprinted tannish wrappers printed on rectos only a very scarce advanced state of this minor or not so minor Steinbeck masterpiece whose themes of death and loneliness are masked by its surface layer of humor all the more rare in that this is an Author Presentation Copy Inscribed by Steinbeck to the best man at his second marriage Howard O. Hunter who was the Works Progress Administration WPA commissioner in the early 1940s under the FDR administration Steinbeck and his second wife Gwen Conger were married March 29 1943 just 11 days after receiving his final divorce decree from his first wife Carol Steinbeck has Inscribed the first preliminary as follows "For Howard/who really/belongs in/Cannery Row/John Steinbeck/last night in New York 1944" this galley lacks all the preliminaries found in the 1945 published version such as half titles title page copyright page dedication page etc. although not specifically cited in Goldstone & Payne there is a notation under G&P A22a that "a copy of the unrevised galley proofs is in the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas" see Morrow 172 that copy with a yellow label on front giving publication date and price that is not on this copy--the Morrow copy was not signed or inscribed now housed in a beautiful custom clamshell case with leather spine laid in loosely is a letter of provenance from Ellen Leonard who was given this proof by Hunter's wife Edna. This was bound for in-house use by Viking and not for sale thus it was never meant to be in great condition even when new spine ends are chipped there is offsetting from printed pages onto the previous verso some pages are becoming dis-bound. n.p. (NY), n.p. (The Viking Press), n.d. (1944), first edition, wrappers. Softcover. paperback
rif. JD29396n.p. NY n.p. The Viking Press n.d. 1944 first edition wrappers. Softcover. Advance copy an uncorrected galley proof bound in plain unprinted tannish wrappers printed on rectos only a very scarce advanced state of this minor or not so minor Steinbeck masterpiece whose themes of death and loneliness are masked by its surface layer of humor all the more rare in that this is an Author Presentation Copy Inscribed by Steinbeck to the best man at his second marriage Howard O. Hunter who was the Works Progress Administration WPA commissioner in the early 1940s under the FDR administration Steinbeck and his second wife Gwen Conger were married March 29 1943 just 11 days after receiving his final divorce decree from his first wife Carol Steinbeck has Inscribed the first preliminary as follows "For Howard/who really/belongs in/Cannery Row/John Steinbeck/last night in New York 1944" this galley lacks all the preliminaries found in the 1945 published version such as half titles title page copyright page dedication page etc. although not specifically cited in Goldstone & Payne there is a notation under G&P A22a that "a copy of the unrevised galley proofs is in the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas" see Morrow 172 that copy with a yellow label on front giving publication date and price that is not on this copy--the Morrow copy was not signed or inscribed now housed in a beautiful custom clamshell case with leather spine laid in loosely is a letter of provenance from Ellen Leonard who was given this proof by Hunter's wife Edna. This was bound for in-house use by Viking and not for sale thus it was never meant to be in great condition even when new spine ends are chipped there is offsetting from printed pages onto the previous verso some pages are becoming dis-bound. n.p. (NY), n.p. (The Viking Press), n.d. (1944), first edition, wrappers. Softcover. paperback books
1939rif. 1287161939. First Edition. STEINBECK John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking 1939. Octavo original pictorial beige cloth illustrated endpapers original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $28500.First edition first issue of Steinbeck's most important novel his searing masterpiece of moral outrage and ""intense humanity"" winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize.""It is a long novel the longest that Steinbeck has written and yet it reads as if it had been composed in a flash ripped off the typewriter and delivered to the public as an ultimatumÉ Steinbeck has written a novel from the depths of his heart with a sincerity seldom equaled"" Peter Monro Jack. ""The Grapes of Wrath is the kind of art that's poured out of a crucible in which are mingled pity and indignationÉ Its power and importance do not lie in its political insight but in its intense humanityÉ It is the American novel of the season probably the year possibly the decade"" Clifton Fadiman. First issue with ""First Published in April 1939"" on copyright page and first edition notice on front flap of dust jacket. Goldstone & Payne A12a. Salinas Public Library 29. Bruccoli & Clark I:354. Slight discoloration to cloth along spine joints much less than typical; jacket bright and beautiful with only faintest toning along top margin. A stunning copy most rare in this condition. hardcover
