The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, John - 1939

New York: Viking Press, 1939. First Edition. Near Fine/Very Good +. A Near Fine copy of the book with the spine a bit cocked and the top-stain dulled. In a Very Good+ dust jacket with some faint dampstains at the flap folds and one small chip at the lower corner, otherwise a pretty handsome copy. Steinbeck's classic account of the Dust Bowl and Depression era struggle of the Joad family, "The Grapes of Wrath" is a quintessential American classic. It would win both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize committee would refer to it as Steinbeck's "epic chronicle" upon giving him the award in 1962. The book was the best-selling novel of 1939 and became instantly controversial upon its release for its depiction of farmers and worker rights. Of course, "The Grapes of Wrath" was also adapted into the classic 1940 film, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, which was one of the first films selected by The Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. "It is a very long novel, the longest that Steinbeck has written, and yet it reads as if it had been composed in a flash, ripped off the typewriter and delivered to the public as an ultimatum." (Contemporary New York Times Review). Near Fine in Very Good + dust jacket.