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First cloth edition, regular issue. (Based on remnants of light blue color of top edge staining to text block. It's hard to see, but is bluer near the endcap, and definitely not the cream of the fore edge. See center book, next to last photo.) No other printings listed on copyright page. Previously serialized in McCall's Hard cover, 8vo, in turquoise blue cloth with a label in black, printed in reverse to the spine, lettering in silver. In the original dust jacket, which has been price clipped. CONDITION: Fine in a Near fine d/j. Book is remarkably clean and with the merest hint of oxidation along upper and lower board edges. Not written in. Hinges intact. Endpapers and other text pages are bright. The Near Fine dust jacket has points off for being price-clipped, however it remains in excellent condition, showing vibrant color with only a bit of offset from the black spine label and minor toning upon d/j's inner upper edge. There are a few 1/8 inch closed tears to upper d.j. In a mylar protector.**American AUTHOR John Steinbeck (1902-1968) won the Nobel Prize for Literature for this (and other works) in 1962, and it was his last completed novel before his death. Mayflower-descendant Ethan Allan Hawley of New Baytown, New York, now works as a grocery clerk in the store once owned by his formerly well to do parents. His family's wealth and influence in this Long Island shore community has been eroded over the years, but he and his wife and two small children still manage to live frugally in the federalist mansion built by his forebears. Pressure to provide the materialistic trappings of success leads him down a dark, desperate path in which moral corruption replaces his innate integrity. He informs the authorities of his boss's illegal immigration status, resulting in the man's deportation, and thus regains title to the grocery store. He connives to cheat a man with a drinking problem out of his land, and hatches a plan to rob a bank. Eventually the bleak realities of these moral failings lead him to existential crisis. Poignant themes for the times, perhaps. REF: Goldwater & Payne A38b, accords to description of first edition, regular issue (with same d/j as the 50 limited edits. printed for friends and family), pp. 86-87. Also per Bradford Morrow, Catalogue Eight, "John Steinbeck ...The Harry Valentine Collection," No. 252, p. 66.
Ref: LITSTN 9489
$375.00 $445.50