[Rarebooks] FS: THE GRAPES OF WRATH with a Fine INSCRIPTION by Steinbeck to the Screenwriter of LAURA and A WING AND A PRAYER

[Charles Agvent]

THE GRAPES OF WRATH was published 72 years ago today.

STEINBECK, John. THE GRAPES OF WRATH. New York: The Viking Press, 
(1939). First Edition. Second Printing Before Publication of this winner 
of the Pulitzer Prize. This copy belonged to screenwriter Jerry Cady (A 
WING AND A PRAYER; LAURA; FOREVER AMBER; CALL NORTHSIDE 777) to whom the 
author has INSCRIBED and SIGNED this book. According to Cady's daughter, 
the two got into a huge argument at Murphy's bar one night about the 
book and Cady said that this kind of thing didn't go on in America. 
Steinbeck then INSCRIBED the book on the dedication page "To Jerry 
Cady/As far as I know it, this is what happens to them/John Steinbeck." 
This book shows some evidence that it was carried to Murphy's on more 
than one occasion. The exterior shows minor edgewear, mostly at the 
bottom edge. The front endpaper is mostly pasted down to the front 
pastedown, but what can be seen shows the ink stamp of the Boulevard 
Circulating Library on Hollywood Blvd. The half-title page has a few 
small tears, and there is an old dampstain on the outer margin edge of 
the first few pages, including the dedication page, but not touching the 
Steinbeck inscription. Accompanying the book are a few pages of Cady's 
scrapbook that includes family photos and photos of his boat, his 
driver's license and Twentieth Century Fox ID card, and the 8 November 
1948 headline of the LOS ANGELES EXPRESS: "Screen Writer Dies in 
Mystery." Cady died from an overdose of sleeping pills on his yacht off 
Catalina Island. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1945 for his 
screenplay for A WING AND A PRAYER. A beautiful Steinbeck presentation 
in a Good only copy.         $7,500.00

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