The Grapes of Wrath.

STEINBECK, John.

Item Number: 3706

New York: The Viking Press, 1939.

First issue, with “First Published in April 1939” on copyright page and first edition notice on front flap of dust jacket. Octavo, original beige cloth. Inscribed by the author, “For Jules and Joyce and also Joan with love John Steinbeck.” Below his signature Steinbeck added his “Pigasus” drawing. The recipient, Jules Buck was a movie producer; he and Steinbeck made an early attempt toward a collaborative screenplay for what would become Elia Kazan’s “Viva Zapata,” though Steinbeck’s contribution was such that he received sole credit. Buck produced such post-war film classics as Robert Siodmak’s The Killers (based on the story by Ernest Hemingway), and Jules Dassin’s The Naked City. His wife Joyce Gates was an actress and their daughter Joan became the editor of French Vogue. Steinbeck reserved his flying pig doodle for close friends and associates. Fine in a fine dust jacket with a tiny closed tear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional copy.

"The Grapes of Wrath is the kind of art that’s poured out of a crucible in which are mingled pity and indignation Its power and importance do not lie in its political insight but in its intense humanity [It] is the American novel of the season, probably the year, possibly the decade" (Clifton Fadiman).