The
Challenge of Collecting
Steinbeck
This
article appeared in The Steinbeck
Collector, No. 8 (July 2004),
7-9.
By James M.
Dourgarian
View
our collection of Steinbeck
and
Steinbeckiana
The challenge for virtually all
collectors of John Steinbeck, whether
novice or grizzled veteran, is the same --
money! If you still need a pretty copy of
Tortilla Flat, a first in jacket,
can you spare that extra $10,000 it's
going to take to acquire the book? Is your
long-held copy of The Grapes of
Wrath still as tired as it was when
you acquired it 15 years ago? It's
probably in worse condition now. Do you
have a spare $7,500 to $10,000 to upgrade
to a fine copy in a like, first issue
jacket? The choice often seems to boil
down to either buying your spouse a good
used car or buying yourself a missing
piece of the puzzle that is your book
collection. These examples are a bit
extreme, but let's say you still need the
Rowfant limited first edition of How
Edith McGillcuddy Met Robert Louis
Stevenson. A nice copy in an average
jacket is going to cost about $2,500 to
$3,500. That's still a lot of money.
Collecting Steinbeck has always been
expensive because his books are so valued,
so desired. That desire combined with
scarcity has always driven prices higher
and higher, but the perception is that
today's prices are particularly
daunting.
What can you do? Do what Steinbeck did
when he was composing a short story or a
play or a novel -- use your imagination!
Be creative. You don't have to collect in
the same tried and true method employed by
bibliophiles since the beginning of
library building. How about building a
title collection? What's that? Find
yourself a copy of The Grapes of Wrath:
A Fifty Year Bibliographic Survey
compiled by Bob Harmon, published by the
Steinbeck
Research Center in 1990. Use it as
your guide to see all the different
editions of Steinbeck's masterpiece that
have been published over the years. You
could assemble a collection of the first
edition by Viking, the Limited Editions
Club two-volume illustrated edition signed
by Thomas Hart Benton, the Sun Dial
edition, both versions of the Armed
Services Editions issue, the Modern
Library edition, the Bantam Books edition,
and any number of other permutations of
this classic. Supplement those books with
maybe a poster or two from the John
Ford-directed film version. Add a few
magazine appearances of the Joad family's
migrant adventures, and maybe a few early
periodical reviews of the book. Total
outlay isn't huge and the collection would
be mighty impressive and interesting to
view -- for you and visitors. You might
choose another title. If Cannery
Row is your favorite, or if maybe it's
The Red Pony, you could amass an
equally viable collection of interest that
would fully entertain you in viewing it
and entertain you in the hunt for its
respective pieces.
Some long-time Steinbeck collectors
have already built a substantial
collection of first editions in dust
jackets. Perhaps the only books they are
missing are ones that cost in the tens of
thousands of dollars. They would still
like to participate in the hunt for
Steinbeck material, but don't want to
separate that much money from their
wallets. Why not start collecting
Steinbeck's appearances in periodicals?
This can be a very rewarding experience.
Many of the periodicals in question are of
extreme importance and several are
extremely difficult to find. The
cornerstone of this endeavor would be
Steinbeck's high school yearbook, the 1919
"El Gabilan." This item includes
Goldstone & Payne C1, C2, and C3 --
Steinbeck's first periodical appearances.
No firm numbers exist as to how many
copies were printed, but Steinbeck's
graduating class numbered only 24
individuals. Copies do come to the market,
but not very often. This item is one of
many that fits the collector's needs --
importance combined with scarcity/rarity.
Another example is the March 1927 issue of
"The Smoker's Companion" which
includes Steinbeck's first professional
sale, in this case using his John Stern
pseudonym (Goldstone & Payne C8).
Neither item was in the Adrian Goldstone
collection. Goldstone & Payne C1, C2,
and C3 were cited via photocopies supplied
to Goldstone courtesy of the John
Steinbeck Library in his hometown of
Salinas, CA. Goldstone & Payne C8 was
cited via a photocopy supplied by the New
York Public Library. Certainly any of
Steinbeck's five appearances in "The
North American Review" should be on
any collector's shelves, especially the
first in November 1933, his first
professional sale/appearance using his own
name. These issues are difficult to find
as well, but they are findable. A more
difficult task would be to find "The
San Francisco News" issues for Oct. 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12, 1936 for they
comprise Goldstone & Payne C20, The
Harvest Gypsies, a very important
precursor to Steinbeck's writing The
Grapes of Wrath. Again, this item
wasn't in the Goldstone collection, but
was cited in the bibliography via
photocopies from the San Francisco Public
Library.
There are many other important
periodical appearances that would make
significant additions to any Steinbeck
collection. In general, if a collector
cannot afford to search out the big-budget
first editions, there are always all kinds
of secondary/ephemeral items to tantalize
the needs of any collector. Let's compare
two Steinbeck collections. One has a large
number of fine first editions of Steinbeck
in like dust jackets. How does it differ
from anyone else's collection of same? If
both collections are comprised of just
books, there is no difference, just as
there would be no individuality, nothing
to separate that collection from any other
collection. But let's say that one of
these collections is supplemented. Let's
say that the collection includes some
important reprints of Steinbeck primary
first editions. Let's say that it includes
the Limited Editions Club issue of The
Grapes of Wrath, the Peggy
Worthington-illustrated edition of
Tortilla Flat, the second edition
of Cup of Gold, and others. Now
supplement this collection with some
Steinbeck contributions to books. Start
with Berton Braley's Morgan Sails the
Caribbean which includes a letter from
Steinbeck to Braley whose book was
inspired by Steinbeck's Cup of
Gold. It is also the start of the
anthology section in Goldstone & Payne
(B1). Let's add John Hargrave's Summer
Time Ends, whose second issue dust
jacket is virtually plastered with
Steinbeck's high praise for the
experimental novel. There is a huge number
of other anthology possibilities.
Supplement this building with the
periodicals already mentioned. Color this
emerging collection with some film posters
or similar film memorabilia from your
favorite film made from one of Steinbeck's
works. You can always add important works
about Steinbeck such as Peter Lisca's
The Wide World of John Steinbeck,
Jackson J. Benson's Bible of
Steinbeck biographies, The True
Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer,
and, without question, the Goldstone &
Payne Bibliography. There are many
choices. Each should reflect the interests
of the specific collector who is building
this more colorful, more interesting
collection. It might be reflected in that
collector's own experiences. For example,
that collector would probably want to make
sure his or her collection is represented
by as many different editions of the
Steinbeck title that first hooked him or
her into collecting Steinbeck. If
Cannery Row was your favorite, if
To A God Unknown knocked you out,
if East of Eden compelled you to
read more and more of Steinbeck which then
started you to collect Steinbeck, then
that title should be heavily represented.
If The Red Pony was your favorite
film made from a Steinbeck work, then a
poster for that film is practically
required.
Another interesting way to collect is
to acquire a Steinbeck collection
comprised entirely of vintage paperbacks.
The covers of these books is worth the
effort alone. The beauty is that not only
would such a collection be visually
interesting, but it would also be easy to
amass and inexpensive to boot. There are
Armed
Services Editions titles, Bantam
Books, Avon, Signet, Penguin, Pocket
Books, Dell, Cardinal -- virtually all of
those publishers that began the mass
market paperback era. This is a terrific
alternative to mainstream collecting.
There was a time when broad-based
collecting was the norm. That was changed
over some time by those who began to
collect only high spots. Today's
collectors of modern American literature
would certainly want The Grapes of
Wrath and East of Eden. They
might choose Of Mice and Men or
Cannery Row, or they might ignore
them, just as they would ignore The
Pastures of Heaven, In Dubious
Battle, Tortilla Flat, just as
they would ignore A Russian
Journal, The Wayward Bus, and
Sweet Thursday, just as they would
ignore obscure publications (and extremely
difficult to find "A" items) such as
Vanderbilt Clinic, Their Blood
Is Strong, and John Steinbeck
Replies. In leaving these "less
important" works unhunted, collectors also
disdained all forms of secondary items.
It's a shame. In my view collecting
Steinbeck's primary works, especially the
well known, is easy. The books are
expensive, it's true, but they aren't
difficult to find. Not in this internet
age. What is more challenging, and
therefore more engaging to the collector,
is finding the odd, the obscure, the
previously unknown. Any good Steinbeck
collector can pick up their copy of The
Grapes of Wrath and talk to someone
else about it, and perhaps at length. That
really isn't impressive. But how many can
speak just as knowledgeably about the odd,
the obscure, the previously unknown? Now
that is impressive.
For more information on "The Steinbeck
Collector," contact Robert B. Harmon at
bharm@pacbell.net or 408-297-2810.
The
Center for Steinbeck Studies -
San José State University
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