THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Inscribed by John Steinbeck to the chair of the Nobel Committee, at the presentation ceremony of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature. Limited edition, issued in an edition of 500 specially printed and bound copies for friends of the author and the publishers. Original dark blue cloth with gilt titles to the upper board and spine, in the printed acetate dustwrapper. Top edge yellow. A very near fine copy, the binding square and tight, bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout. Complete with the scarce original acetate which has several short splits and tears at the flap folds.

Inscribed by the author in blue ink on front free endpaper "For Dr Anders Österling in gratitude for kindness / and understanding and guidance / in my recent 'via nobelis'. / You made so simple and easy / what might otherwise have been / frightening and confusing. / With respect and affection / John Steinbeck / Stockholm 1962". A remarkable association copy. In his presentation speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony on 10th December 1962, the Swedish critic, poet, translator and Nobel Committee chairman Anders Österling stated (after referring to the author's novels of the thirties) "In this brief presentation it is not possible to dwell at any length on individual works which Steinbeck later produced. If at times the critics have seemed to note certain signs of flagging powers, of repetitions that might point to a decrease in vitality, Steinbeck belied their fears most emphatically with The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), a novel published last year. Here he attained the same standard which he set in The Grapes of Wrath. Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad [...] Among the masters of modern American literature who have already been awarded this Prize – from Sinclair Lewis to Ernest Hemingway – Steinbeck more than holds his own, independent in position and achievement. There is in him a strain of grim humour which, to some extent, redeems his often cruel and crude motif. His sympathies always go out to the oppressed, to the misfits and the distressed; he likes to contrast the simple joy of life with the brutal and cynical craving for money. But in him we find the American temperament also in his great feeling for nature, for the tilled soil, the wasteland, the mountains, and the ocean coasts, all an inexhaustible source of inspiration to Steinbeck in the midst of, and beyond, the world of human beings". Österling had a long history with Steinbeck's work, having written the preface to the Swedish first edition of 'Of Mice and Men' in 1939, and having subsequently reviewed many more. Steinbeck was nominated for the Nobel Prize eleven times between 1943 and 1962. When asked on the day of its announcement (25 October 1962) if he deserved the award, he coolly replied, "Frankly, no". (Goldstone & Payne A38a).