The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck - 1961

I have looked at what the experts have said about this book and I believe that this copy is one of the 500 first copies of the first edition.

The true first edition is 500 copies specially printed and bound for friends of the author and publishers. That book was wrapped in a plastic protective jacket and 'Limited Edition' was stamped in red on the plastic jacket. There was no price tag on that first run of 500.

The first trade edition had a printed price of $4.50 and blue top stain, with evenly trimmed pages. All runs after that bore a price tag. Also, this is one of the few copies that runs to 281 pages. The first and subsequent trade editions are 311 pages.

The Book Club edition looks very similar to the earlier editions, but it clearly says 'Book Club Edition' on the inside flap of the jacket. My copy does not.

My copy has no price on the dust jacket, no blue top stain, and the pages are not evenly trimmed. There is no debossing anywhere. It is covered in a protective plastic sheath, but that was done by the book store where I bought it. So it is not a trade edition. I believe it is one of the first 500, and that the original plastic sheet was removed.

It was printed in the US then marketed by Macmillan Canada.

Condition:

Dust Jacket

As you can see, underneath the plastic sleeve, there is a 1" tear or scratch to the cover, and tiny tearing or scratching to the back cover and spine. The edges of the dust jacket look a little bit brown.

Exterior

Pristine. There is not a single mark of any kind on this book. The boards are the brightest blue and there is dark, fresh black type on the spine.

Interior

On the front endpaper, someone wrote something in pencil, and someone else has erased it, but it has left a little bit of a mark, which you can remove.

Other than that, there is not a single mark inside this book. There is no evidence that it was read.

Story:

Ethan Allen Hawley works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island's aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards.

This is Steinbeck's last novel; it and the Grapes of Wrath are considered to be his masterpieces, and it is this book that won him the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature.