THE GRAPES OF WRATH

New York: The Viking Press, 1939.. 619pp. Cloth, pictorial endsheets printing a page from the score of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." A fine copy, in very near fine dust jacket with the price and the 'First edition" denotation on the front flap intact and a hint of uniform darkening and minor edgewear to the spine panel. Cloth slipcase and chemise. First edition, first printing, of Steinbeck's standout novel of the 1930s dust bowl struggle of the Joad family. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, and was perhaps the fundamental reason for Steinbeck's eventual receipt of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature, whereupon it was referred to it as an "epic chronicle." The book was among the best-selling novels of 1939 and elicited strong sentiments on both sides of the issue for its depiction of the bleak prospects for farmers and workers during the preceding decade. The Grapes of Wrath was adapted to the screen in 1940, based on Nunnally Johnson's superior screenplay, directed by John Ford, and starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, et al. Ford and Darwell won Oscars as Director and Best Supporting Actress. Goldstone & Payne record that the first printing consisted of 50,000 copies and by the end of the first year following publication 430,000 copies had been printed. Ordinary copies have always been available, and apart from a couple of remainders of copies turned up in the context of retired booksellers' inventories (notably one in Austin, Texas, in 1978) copies of the first printing in fine condition remain the exception. GOLDSTONE & PAYNE 12a. HANNA 3341. BAIRD & GREENWOOD 2333. COAN & LILLARD, p.76. POWELL (HEART) 103.