[Rarebooks] FS: John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat letters

[Allington Books]

*Offered*: *John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat letter**s. *

Steinbeck, John. Tortilla Flat: Autograph Letter Draft to Tamale Joe Romero
from John Steinbeck featuring personages from Tortilla Flat, together with
a Typed Letter Signed from Lillian Shappell to John Steinbeck; [The Grapes
of Wrath; Of Mice and Men; East of Eden; In Dubious Battle; Cup of Gold;
Pastures of Heaven; Travels with Charley; The Long Valley; In Dubious
Battle; Cannery Row; The Winter of Our Discontent; The Red Pony; Sea of
Cortez; The Moon is Down; The Pearl; and others]. New York, 1963. First
edition. A Near Fine Typed Letter Signed from Lillian Shappell to John
Steinbeck regarding Tamale Joe Romero, INCLUDING Steinbeck's handwritten
response not to Lillian Shappell, TOGETHER WITH John Steinbeck's autograph
letter to Joe Romero, 1 legal-size sheet in length and featuring the
personages of Steinbeck's novel "Tortilla Flat". In a letter dated March
13, 1963, Lillian Shappell wrote to John Steinbeck telling him that she
recently had been speaking about Steinbeck to Tamale Joe Romero (who we
conclude to have been the model for the Big Joe Portagee in "Tortilla
Flat") in the Anchor bar on Alvarado Street in Monterey and stating that
Joe "thinks about you as his friend and as you know, he is living more in
his memories than in the present. I asked him if he had ever received a
Christmas card from you. He looked sadly at me and said, "No." He would
keep a post card warm in his pocket and "just happen" to have it with him
to all his friends." Shappell goes on to discuss the death of Joe's dog
"Nigger" and repeats a humorous anecdote Joe told her about the time a
woman complimented the dog and asked for his name. She concludes with some
comments on a Steinbeck article in Writer's Yearbook. At the top of the
letter, John Steinbeck has written his reply in pencil stating that he will
"...get a note off to Joe Romero right away." On one side of Steinbeck's
reply "Response" is written in blue ink and, on the other side, also in
blue ink is written "Reply sent to Mrs. Shappell on 4/1/63". The ink notes
appear to have been written by Steinbeck's Assistant. In his letter to Joe
Romero, Steinbeck writes "Dear Joe, / Word got through to me that you / did
not receive my christmas card. I / can't imagine what can have happened to
/ it."  He goes on to discuss Joe's dog, who he recalls as having been
named "Bravo Negro" and reminisces about the past stating, in part, "The
news from home is not too happy. / Pilon dead and now Old Eddie Martin. /
Iris cañon [NB: "Canyon" in English] must be a lonely place there /
Saturday nights. // But we can remember things can't / we?" and continues
with further memories about that upon which the book, in part, was based,
concluding "Those were / the days, Joe. We shall not see their / like
again.", followed by a brief note in Spanish about the paisanos and the
paisanas. A wonderful and intimate correspondence exuding Tortilla Flat
itself from the author of the book to one of the novel's major
characters.                     Near Fine. None. (#00002945)
$2,750.00  (*20% discount to the list* applied when we process your order
--- please advise in the Notes to your order that you are a list member.)


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http://www.allingtonbooks.com/shop/allington/00002945.html?id=5KmTCKSe&mv_pc=816

Photographs in addition to that on our site are available on request.

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Thank you for your consideration.

Best Wishes,

Stephen
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC


-- 
Stephen Johnson
Allington Antiquarian Books, LLC
Rare and Collectible Books, both Antiquarian and Modern
www.allingtonbooks.com
336-414-0435