Of Mice and Men
New York: Covici Friede, 1937.
A family presentation copy inscribed by John Steinbeck on the front free endpaper to his sister Beth and her husband Eugene Ainsworth; Beth's bookplate to front pastedown. First edition, first printing, first issue with "pendula" on page 9, and a bullet between the two 8's of the page number on page 88. 186 pp. Bound in publisher's tan cloth stamped in orange and black, blue topstain. Near Fine with foxing to cloth, textblock edges, endpapers, and intermittently throughout. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with soft creasing to front and rear panels with a short closed tear at the bottom edge of the front, light wear, foxing, and toning. Goldstone & Payne A7.a. One of just 2,500 copies printed in the first issue, given by the author to his beloved older sister, whom he held up as a model of integrity in the dedication to Winter of Our Discontent: “To Beth, my sister, whose light burns clear.” Steinbeck was satisfied with his novella about the struggles of two itinerant farm workers, but he didn't expect the book to make any money. It ended up selling 117,000 copies in less than a month. The story was originally intended for children, and The Times called it a "fairy tale" in its review. The novella is now assigned to grade school students across the country as their first introduction to Steinbeck.
Price: $52,000