THE GRAPES OF WRATH by STEINBECK, John - (1941)

Garden City, NY: The Sun Dial Press, (1941). Reprint. Hardcover. Near Fine in a toned, Very Good or better dustwrapper with light chipping at the spine tips. Attractive reprint in essentially the same format, though slightly smaller, of this winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This copy INSCRIBED and SIGNED by Steinbeck on the front endpaper to famed Mexican director and actor Emilio Fernández: "For Emilio (Kikapoo) [sic] Fernandez/in hope that/we will have more grapes/than wrath/John Steinbeck." A superb and rare inscription incorporating the title of the book and a fine association copy. Fernández, whose father was a revolutionary general and whose mother was a member of the Kickapoo people, directed the 1947 film of Steinbeck's THE PEARL and co-wrote the screenplay for it with Steinbeck, one of 129 films Fernández either directed or in which he appeared as an actor. Fernández is also rumored to be the model for the Oscar statuette, legend suggesting that MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Motion Picture Academy members tasked with creating the Academy Award trophy, was introduced to Fernández by actress Dolores del Río and persuaded him to pose nude.