UCSB Library has received a collection of first editions and audio recordings by California author and Nobel Prize laureate John Steinbeck (1902–1962). It includes 25 first editions of Steinbeck's major works, including the novels The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, and East of Eden as well as important works of nonfiction, such as The Log from the Sea of Cortez, Travels with Charley, and America and Americans. The collection also includes a 1991 reprint of Tortilla Flat and reel-to-reel recordings of a 1954 reading for the United Nations Radio Division and Steinbeck's dictation of "The Affair at 7, Rue de M,” a short horror story from 1955 about a boy chewed by his own bubblegum.
The collection was donated by UCSB alumni Mark Maxson ‘75 and Mary Burchill ‘76 and represents their second donation of Steinbeck materials to the Library. In early 2024, Maxson and Burchill donated a collection of audio recordings Steinbeck made in the 1940s and 1950s with a SoundScriber dictation machine.
"Their donation really complements our existing Steinbeck holdings," said David Gartrell, the curator of rare book and printed collections and general manuscripts collection. "We have some later fine press editions of some of Steinbeck's work ... and even uncorrected galley proofs of The Grapes of Wrath, but we had very few true first editions in such fine condition. The volumes donated by Mark and Mary have been well cared for."
More information
Read the feature article about the collection published in UCSB's The Current and listen to a recording of John Steinbeck reading the opening paragraph of The Wayward Bus (1947): https://news.ucsb.edu/2024/021696/trove-john-steinbeck-first-editions-and-audio-recordings-elevate-ucsb-library-archive
