Books

[608pp]: [vi], 602; emerald linen stamped dark green on upper board & printed red-brown with black stamping on spine, jacket price-clipped (for the Canadian market); 218 x 150 x 43 mm. "Second printing before publication" of the trade issue, printed the same month as the first (September); with correction, "bight" (281:38). In the second jacket bearing eight blurbs on rear panel & no portrait. The printrun for the first edition was reportedly 110,000 copies [Holmes A35c], which presumably included the second printing prior to publication. Comparing available first printing copies online (130) with those of the second (5 copies, none in jacket) makes it clear that this supplementary pre-publication printing (also produced by H. Wolff who printed the first batch) was comparatively extremely small. Both September printings, it bears emphasizing, were released simultaneously, rendering points of "issue" (such as "bite" on p281, & the earlier portrait jacket) moot, though their priority of production (at least in the printing stage) remains firm. What bibliophiles generally value most in pursuing "first editions" is the artifact which first brought the work to the historic attention of the world. The term "points of issue" should make it clear that the distinguishing factor arises more from the book being "issued" than from printing. And a "second printing before publication" maintains the distinction of a first edition 'issue', in that copies of both printings are shipped simultaneously. In this case, the first printing in primary jacket ironically remains abundantly common, while the second pre-publication printing of the author's highspot proves comparatively rare in jacket, particularly thus. Despite the general consensus, the distinction between a "second printing before publication" & a second printing produced after the book's release, is hardly insignificant. A tight clean square copy of this exceptionally scarce issue of the first edition; in a bright jacket moderately worn at spine ends, with backstrip & rear panel lightly toned.

East of Eden is a novel by American author John Steinbeck. Published in September 1952, it is a saga telling the story of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—with a particular focus on the life of Adam Trask, his twin sons Caleb and Aron, and their complex relationship with each other and their father. The novel explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, and redemption, and it vividly captures the rural Salinas Valley in California at the turn of the 20th century. Steinbeck considered 'East of Eden' to be his magnum opus.