Steinbeck, John

The Winter of Our Discontent with: Ephemera

New York, NY: The Viking Press, 1961. First Edition. Hardcover. "(John) Steinbeck's versatility should no longer cause astonishment. Each of his books is apt to be a new departure, differing sharply from the one before. Yet this new novel will probably surprise even his warmest admirers. Instead of being set in the Far West, the scene of most of his books, this one takes place on the northeastern seaboard; instead of depicting simple, uneducated people, this deals chiefly with a well-born, well-to-do society with long traditions behind it. But it deals with it in a way that reveals the continuity within Steinbeck's diversity: through the lives of one family and their friends, he has taken that society apart, shown its frightening shams and shortcomings, and measured it against true human decency." (from front flap) The final work of fiction published during the lifetime of John Steinbeck (1902-1968), the great American author whose works are among the most acclaimed & popular in the twentieth century, & which remain so today, long-enshrined in the Library of America series. The year following the publication of this novel, Steinbeck was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature for his whole oeuvre. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $4.50 price printed on front flap), "First published in 1961 by The Viking Press, Inc." as stated on copyright page (indicating a first edition), "Second Printing Before Publication" as also stated thereon (therefore a second pre-first printing). We found & have retained, between front pastedown & endpaper, a contemporary review of this novel by Granville Hicks (1901-1982), the influential American Marxist literary critic, entitled "Many-Sided Morality." This (frankly hostile) review was printed on page 11 of an unknown journal, most probably the Saturday Review (as hinted in a more laudatory review of Henry Miller's Tropic of cancer by a different reviewer on verso, pg. 12). Single sheet folded once horizontally, in fine condition with medium browning & slight edgewear. A most essential collectible in the Steinbeck canon in one of its very rarest original forms. See also esp. our item No. 2163. Book in fine condition with mild rubbing & fading to blue cloth front, back covers & spine (silver gilt, black letters, graphics & background on spine completely bright & intact); slight wear, fading at edges & corners of same; light rubbing, browning & occasional spotting to side & lower edges of text block; moderate rubbing, light scratching & significant fading to blue-(or grey-?)dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with moderate-to-medium browning to blank front pastedown & endpaper (from placement of review noted above); much less at rear endpaper & pastedown; tiny bumps at corners of a few page leaves. Unrestored dust jacket in relatively good condition with moderate-to-medium rubbing, browning, scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; shallow chipping esp. at spine-edges, corners & upper edge of back cover with minimal loss of paper, surface paper; two short, closed angled-vertical tears from upper edge onto front cover minimally effecting background & "T" & "B" in "STEINBECK" Fine / good. [Item #5403]

Price: $200.00