STEINBECK, John.

£10,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Grapes of Wrath. First edition of the author's masterpiece, widely regarded as the supreme literary achievement of the Depression era. The film adaptation by Darryl F. Zanuck, produced the following year, is similarly one of the greatest 20th-century American films."Lauded by critics nationwide for its scope and intensity, the book attracted an equally vociferous minority opinion", with some debating Steinback's use of supposedly crass language and his unwavering sympathy for the disenfranchised (ANB). It was consequently banned in several counties until well into the Second World War.The jacket design is by the children's writer and illustrator Elmer Hader (1889-1973), the joint recipient, alongside his wife Berta, of the 1948 Caldecott medal. Steinbeck was so taken with the illustrations in their book Billy Butter (1936) that he specially requested Elmer design the jacket for The Grapes of Wrath. Elmer later designed the jackets of East of Eden (1952) and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961).

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