The Grapes of Wrath. by STEINBECK, John - 1939

New York: The Viking Press, 1939. Steinbeck's masterpiece, in the original dust jacket First edition, first printing, of Steinbeck's masterpiece and one of the great American novels of the 20th century.
The fine jacket design for The Grapes of Wrath is by Berta and Elmer Hader, known primarily as a children's book illustrators (they were joint winners of the Caldecott Medal in 1948 for The Big Snow). Supposedly, Steinbeck was so taken with their book Billy Butter (1936) that he requested that the Haders design the cover for The Grapes of Wrath; the illustrators went on to work on two other Steinbeck books, East of Eden (1952) and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). Octavo. Original buff cloth, spine lettered in brown, pictorial design to spine and covers in brown, endpapers decorated with the sheet music for Battle Hymn of the Republic, top edge yellow. With dust jacket. Bookplate of James C. Sorensen to front free endpaper. A very good copy, light foxing to spine, edges, and endpapers, in the like dust jacket, not price-clipped, spine panel somewhat toned, spine ends and tips a little chipped, minor rubbing to extremities, front panel still bright. Goldstone & Payne A12.