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718

John Steinbeck

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 USD
John Steinbeck

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Auction Date:2011 Apr 13 @ 19:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
ALS signed “John,” two lightly-lined yellow legal pages, 8 x 12.25, no date. Letter addressed to “Bill,” while in the midst of composing an adaptation Cannery Row. In full: “We don’t see enough of you and Louise. That is undoubtably mostly our fault. I seemed to be chained to this drafting table. The portrait keeps growing on me. What a fine piece of work it is, really sound and true. It’s a portrait for all their lives, not just a time piece. Next Saturday I’m taking the boys to Nantucket for a much week. Will take care of ourselves and be alone and maybe I’ll get to know them a little. You can only do that alone. Elaine is going to Texas to see her people. Bill, it occurs to me that now I have all these nice power tools and melding outfit. I haven’t even had time to set them up in the basement. How about helping me set up a shop down there and then using the shop when you want to. It could be a fine place to make frames etc. And we could design and make some bird cages. I’ll call you when I get back from Nantucket and we’ll talk about it. I know you could use the tools and I could use your help in setting it up. I have a fan to bring in fresh air from the outside. I’ve got my first act of Cannery Row and now go in to the second act. Love to you both. I’ll call you. Elaine will be away two weeks but I only one.” In very good to fine condition, with toning to both pages, heavier to first page, several small edge tears and chips, slight paper loss to bottom edges, and a couple light corner creases.

Steinbeck completed Cannery Row in 1944 in an attempt to recover a Depression-era world in Monterey, California. In this letter, written sometime after the 1949 meeting of the woman would become his third wife, Elaine Scott, the author has turned his attention to working on a likely stage adaptation, noting “I’ve got my first act of Cannery Row and now go in to the second act.” In his famed work, Steinbeck focused on the war’s effect on the author’s personal life and that of his city, having resigned his fact that his newfound fame would prevent him from returning to the life he once knew...and loved. This letter exudes some of the hope Steinbeck had for some semblance of ‘normalcy’—inviting his friend to help him set up a workshop—while still confronting his fame.
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