John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was an American novelist, author of Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.

He was born on 27 February 1902 in Salinas, California. His first novel, Cup of Gold, appeared in 1929, and he found success with Tortilla Flat (1935). Of Mice and Men, published by Covici-Friede in 1937, was chosen by the Book-of-the-Month Club before publication and adapted for the stage the same year, with a Broadway run of 207 performances. The Grapes of Wrath was published by the Viking Press on 14 April 1939; it won the National Book Award and the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Later works include Cannery Row (1945), East of Eden (1952) and Travels with Charley, an account of his 1960 road trip across America. He died in New York City on 20 December 1968.

For collectors. The first edition of Of Mice and Men (Covici-Friede, New York, 1937) had a first printing of only 2,500 copies, according to both Bauman Rare Books and RR Auction. First-issue copies carry the words "and only moved because the heavy hands were pendula" on page 9, a phrase dropped from later printings, and a bullet between the two 8s of the page number 88. Bauman Rare Books records the first British edition as William Heinemann, London, 1937, in a blue jacket by Michael Rothenstein. The Grapes of Wrath first edition was issued by Viking in a jacket by Elmer Hader.