The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, John - 1939

New York: The Viking Press, 1939 First edition, first printing. Publisher's beige cloth, boards illustrated with an image of migrant families heading West after Elmer Hader's dust jacket design, pictorial endpapers illustrated with a facsimile score for the "The Battle Hymn the Republic"; in the original first issue dust jacket, with the original ($2.75) price and "First Edition" slug intact, with an illustration by Hader depicting tenant farming families looking out on a caravan of migrant families heading West across a valley towards a mountain range. About near fine with some light spotting and slight staining to cloth; in an unclipped jacket with light wear and a few tiny chips to the extremities, very minor toning and slight rubbing to spine, else near fine. A bright and very attractive copy. In this powerful and compelling novel, Steinbeck tells the story of a poor "Okie" family, who travels westward to California after their home state of Oklahoma was decimated by the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. Steinbeck's keen sense of human emotion and humanitarian interest in the plight of the tenant farmer make this novel a classic and timeless masterpiece that provides a unique insight into the history of the American Midwest. Symbolizing the novel's motifs of sacrifice and the American dream, The Grapes of Wrath takes its title from Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," whose lyrics reference the Biblical apocalypse and divine deliverance from oppression. The Grapes of Wrath won both the National Book Award in 1939 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940. It was also considered a major contributing factor in Steinbeck's 1962 awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.