“FOR MY SON THOM, WHO IS SWEET ALSO, FROM FATHER, JOHN STEINBECK”: SWEET THURSDAY, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY STEINBECK TO HIS TEN-YEAR OLD SON, FROM THE COLLECTION OF HARRY VALENTINE

STEINBECK, John. Sweet Thursday. London: William Heinemann, (1954). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

First English edition of this sequel to Cannery Row, “an emphatic and clear-cut statement of Steinbeck’s greatest single theme” and basis for the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Pipe Dream. This copy warmly inscribed by the author to his son, who was ten at the time, “For my son Thom, who is sweet also, from father, John Steinbeck.” From the celebrated Steinbeck collection of Harry Valentine.

This sequel to Cannery Row (1945) makes "an emphatic and clear-cut statement of Steinbeck's greatest single theme: the common bonds of humanity and love which make goodness and happiness possible" (The New Republic, June 7, 1954). A sentimental satire of romantic comedies, it raced up bestseller lists upon publication; the New York Times hailed it as "Steinbeck at his best." The author twice tried and failed to adapt the book to the stage; Rodgers and Hammerstein did so in Pipe Dream (1955). While its critical reputation remains uneven, Sweet Thursday raises question about how we know truth that "will remain important to readers in any age" (Railsback & Meyer, 369). Published in the same year as the first edition. Goldstone & Payne A33c. See: Salinas Public Library, 45-6; Bruccoli & Clark I:356. This copy inscribed to Steinbeck's son, Thom, who was ten years old at the time. "Like his own father, Steinbeck found it difficult to express his affection for his children directly, and a great deal of the love and concern he had for them was put into his work… It might not be too far wrong to say that his children had almost a separate existence inside his head, the way a novel developed in his mind" (Benson, 640). Harry Valentine was a Steinbeck family friend who acquired most of his impressive collection directly from Steinbeck's sons, Thom and John. This copy is item 228 in Valentine's catalogue.

Interior pristine. Cloth with extremities slightly rubbed; rear board with minor soiling, top corner lightly bumped. Bright original dust jacket with mild rubbing to edges, expert repairs to verso. An outstanding copy with extraordinary association and distinguished provenance.