Literature Holiday 2022 - 30 - Exceedingly Scarce First Edition Of Steinbeck’s Second Book, The Pastures Of Heaven, One Of Only 650 Copies Sold 26. STEINBECK, John. The Pastures of Heaven. New York, 1932. Octavo, original gilt-stamped green cloth, dust jacket. $18,000. First edition, first issue, one of a scant 650 copies sold, of Steinbeck’s lyrical and incisive portrait of the verdant heart of California and its people, in scarce original dust jacket. The Pastures of Heaven, Steinbeck’s second-published book, “began as an idea for a volume of interconnected short stories… The setting was also prepared for the writing of Pastures by Steinbeck’s interest in family history, continuity and inheritance, particularly in father-son relationships.” Critics praised The Pastures of Heaven on publication as “the first flight of a fine writing talent” (Nation), especially “noteworthy for its originality of phrase and image and a strongly poetic feeling” (New York Times Book Review). Among other achievements, it “represents Steinbeck’s first effective use of local color and legend” (Salinas Public Library, 19). “Today The Pastures of Heaven is the most popular of Steinbeck’s three early books. It points the way to most of his subsequent writing” (Valentine 14). First issue, with original publisher’s imprint at spine foot. “Brewer, Warren & Putnam printed 2500 sets of sheets, of which 1650 were bound and about 650 copies sold. The remainder were sold to Robert O. Ballou in 1932” (Goldstone & Payne, 22). Ballou produced the second and third issues in that year, with binding (in second and third issue) and title page (in third issue) differing from this first issue, notably by having the Ballou imprint on the bottom of the spine. Around 1935, Covici-Friede purchased the remaining portions of the first-issue sheets and brought them out as the fourth issue. First-issue dust jacket (height:195 mm); front flap with portrait of Steinbeck. Goldstone & Payne A2a. First few leaves professionally cleaned, front inner hinge reinforced, cloth clean, near-fine. Expert restoration to scarce original dust jacket. An excellent copy. “Man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed.”
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