Books

New York: Covici Friede, 1937. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition, first issue. Fine in fine and bright dustwrapper. A beautiful copy of this poignant, classic novella of two Depression-era drifters whose dreams of a better life are not supported by fate. By way of illustration of this volume's scarcity, 2500 copies of the first issue were printed vs. 50,000 for *The Grapes of Wrath*, and 78,000 for *Cannery Row*. Basis for the 1939 Lewis Milestone film with Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr. in the lead, and which lost out to *Gone With the Wind* for the Best Picture Oscar in possibly Hollywood's greatest year (other "losers" that year included *The Grapes of Wrath, Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Wizard of Oz, Ninotchka, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington*, and *Wuthering Heights*). Probably the nicest copy we've seen.

Of Mice and Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California.