Books

New York: Viking, 1959. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Good. A collection of unpublished letters with outstanding content and inscribed books establishing the close friendship John Steinbeck and his wife Elaine shared with theater director John Fearnley. The correspondence is lengthy, writerly, and warm, and the inscriptions humorous and joyful. The letters, largely undated, map primarily to their time in England from March through September 1959. The inscriptions were likely made in the mid-to-late 1950s - most of them post-dating their publications by years or even decades.. The Books: In the first edition of East of Eden (1952) Steinbeck writes as if he simply pulled it off Fearnley's shelf: What joy to write in the copy of my book which belongs to my friend John Fearnley: I think this might be the reason I wanted to write it. John Steinbeck. In the third printing of The Red Pony (1937) Steinbeck leaves a cute poem in an inscription employing…

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.

Identify a first edition of 'East of Eden' by The Viking Press with the date 'September 1952' on the copyright page and the absence of the words 'First Published in September 1952' which would indicate a later printing.