John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (1902 – 1968) was an American author and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception.” He has been called “a giant of American letters.”
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck’s masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck’s work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.
In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” The selection was heavily criticized, and described as “one of the Academy’s biggest mistakes” in one Swedish newspaper.
Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that John Steinbeck was a “compromise choice” among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best of a bad lot. “There aren’t any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation,” wrote committee member Henry Olsson. Although the committee believed Steinbeck’s best work was behind him by 1962, committee member Anders Österling believed the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent showed that “after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as a social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway.”
Many of Steinbeck’s works are required reading in American high schools. In the United Kingdom. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools. Contrariwise, Steinbeck’s works have been frequently banned in the United States on ground of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States.
John Steinbeck – First Editions Identification Guide
|Year||Title||Publisher||First edition/printing identification points|
|1929||Cup of Gold||Robert M. McBride, New York, 1929||Yellow cloth. "First published, August, 1929" stated on © page. Dust Jacket spine has "McBride" at tail of spine, price of $2.50.|
|1932||The Pastures of Heaven||Brewer, Warren & Putnam, NY, 1932||Green cloth. Three issues, priority as listed: |
|1935||To a God Unknown||NY: Robert O. Ballou, ||Two issues, priority as listed: |
|1936||Tortilla Flat||Covici Friede Publishers, || |
|1937||The Red Pony||Covici Friede Publishers, 1937||Beige cloth. Limited to 699 copies, numbered & signed by the author. |
Note: There maybe 52 signed lettered copies, numbered from AA-ZZ with same limitation page.
|1937||In Dubious Battle||Covici Friede Publishers, ||Two issues, no priority: |
|1937||Of Mice and Men||Covici Friede Publishers, ||Beige cloth. Two issues, priority as listed: |
|1938||The Long Valley||The Viking Press, 1938||Brown cloth: "FIRST PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 1938" stated on the © page. Dust Jacket price of $2.50, back panel has no text.|
|1938||Their Blood is Strong||Simon J. Lubin Society of California||Wrappers. "Published, April, 1938 " on title page, no other printings. Price of 25c.|
|1939||The Grapes of Wrath||The Viking Press, 1938||Gray cloth. "FIRST PUBLISHED IN APRIL 1939" on © page with no other printings mentioned. Dust Jacket price of $2.75 and "FIRST EDITION" slug printed on lower front flap.|
|1941||The Forgotten Village||The Viking Press, 1941||Coarse buckram. "FIRST PUBLISHED IN MAY 1941" on © page. No additional printings.|
|1941||Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research||The Viking Press, 1941|| |
|1942||The Moon Is Down||The Viking Press, MCMXLII||Two issues, no priority: |
|1942||Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team||The Viking Press, 1942||Blue cloth. "FIRST PUBLISHED BY THE VIKING PRESS IN NOVEMBER 1942" stated on the © page, no other printings. Dust Jacket price of $2.50 on top of front flap..|
|1945||Cannery Row||The Viking Press, 1945||Two issues, no priority: |
|1947||The Wayward Bus||The Viking Press, 1947||Bright red cloth. "PUBLISHED BY THE VIKING PRESS IN FEBRUARY 1947" stated on top of the © page and "PRINTED IN THE U.S.A BY THE HADDON CRAFTSMEN" on the bottom, no other printings. Top edge stained green. |
Dust Jacket price of $2.75.
Note: Do not confuse with the common BCE issued in salmon cloth, top edge not stained and printed by H. WOLFF, NEW YORK.
|1947||The Pearl||The Viking Press, 1947||Brown cloth. "PUBLISHED BY THE VIKING PRESS IN DECEMBER 1947" on © page, no other printings. |
Dust Jacket price of $2.00 and the portrait of Steinbeck on the back panel is looking toward his left (spine).
|1948||A Russian Journal||The Viking Press, 1948||Four bindings, in order of scarcity, no priority: |
|1950||Burning Bright||The Viking Press, 1950||Gray cloth. "FIRST PUBLISHED BY THE VIKING PRESS IN NOVEMBER 1950" stated on © page, no other printings. Dust Jacket price of $2.50.|
|1951||The Log from the Sea of Cortez||The Viking Press, 1951||Maroon cloth. Second edition, reissued of the 1941 edition with new title, contains first appearance of "About Ed Ricketts". "PUBLISHED BY THE VIKING PRESS IN SEPTEMBER 1951" stated on © page. Dust Jacket price of $4.50.|
|1952||East of Eden||The Viking Press, 1952||Two issues, no priority: |
|1954||Sweet Thursday||The Viking Press, 1954||Two issues, no priority: |
|1957||The Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication||The Viking Press, 1957||Strawberry cloth. "FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1957" and printed by "BY AMERICAN BOOK-STRATFORD PRESS, INC. NEW YORK". |
Dust Jacket price of $3.50, rear panel has blurb for Pippin.
ALSO: Book Club Edition. Lacks printer statement and a small round dot on the bottom corner of the rear board.
|1958||Once There Was A War||The Viking Press, 1958||Brown marbled boards. "Published in 1958 by The Viking Press, Inc." stated on © page, no other printings. Dust Jacket price of $3.95.|
|1961||The Winter of Our Discontent||The Viking Press, 1961||Two issues, no priority: |
|1962||Travels with Charley: In Search of America||The Viking Press, ||Gray cloth. "Published in 1962 by The Viking Press, Inc." on © page, no other printings. Dust Jacket price of $4.95.|
|1966||America and Americans||The Viking Press, 1961||Gray borads. "First published in 1966 by the Viking Press, Inc." stated on © page. Dust Jacket price of $12.50.|
John Steinbeck – First Printing Dust Jackets Identification Guide
Gallery of First state Dust Jackets of Steinbeck’s works. Only includes the first appearance in book form. Either the UK or US edition and does not include later printings.
- John Steinbeck a bibliographical catalogue of the Adrian H. Goldstone Collection.