first edition
1939 · New York
by Steinbeck, John
New York: Viking Press, 1939. First edition. Fine/Near Fine. A Fine copy, in nearly Fine dust jacket. Octavo. Original buff cloth, spine lettered in brown, pictorial design in brown wrapped around spine and covers, endpapers printed with sheet music for "Battle Hymn of the Republic". A fresh copy in a dust jacket with a few little nicks at the spine ends and corners. Housed in a custom morocco-backed clamshell case.
Steinbeck’s classic account of the Dust Bowl and Depression era struggle of the Joad family, The Grapes of Wrath is a quintessential American classic. It would win both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; and the Nobel Prize committee would refer to it as Steinbeck’s “epic chronicle” upon giving him the award in 1962. The book was the best-selling novel of 1939 and became instantly controversial upon its release for its depiction of farmers and worker rights. Of course, The Grapes of Wrath was also adapted into the classic 1940 film, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, which was one of the first films selected by The Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. “It is a very 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 ultimatum” (Contemporary New York Times Review). Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. (Inventory #: 6078)
Steinbeck’s classic account of the Dust Bowl and Depression era struggle of the Joad family, The Grapes of Wrath is a quintessential American classic. It would win both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; and the Nobel Prize committee would refer to it as Steinbeck’s “epic chronicle” upon giving him the award in 1962. The book was the best-selling novel of 1939 and became instantly controversial upon its release for its depiction of farmers and worker rights. Of course, The Grapes of Wrath was also adapted into the classic 1940 film, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, which was one of the first films selected by The Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. “It is a very 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 ultimatum” (Contemporary New York Times Review). Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. (Inventory #: 6078)