News: John Steinbeck for Sale

Yesterday, we told you about the famous residents of Gramercy Park and among them was the Nobel Prize winning author of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck. Though Steinbeck was a California native, he made New York his home, spending much of his life there.
 
On June 23rd, Bloomsbury Auctions in New York will offer buyers a rare glimpse into the life of one of America’s most famous writers by auctioning the contents of his three bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where he lived until his death in 1968. The auction will include letter, manuscripts, movie scripts, photographs and personal belongings.
 
Speaking to the Associated Press, John Larson, Bloomsbury’s book specialist, said “What makes the material attractive is it’s a very nice snapshot, small and large, of Steinbeck, particularly postwar. You have everything from his typescript copy of his Nobel acceptance speech to speeches he wrote for Adlai Stevenson to photographs of Lyndon B. Johnson that are inscribed to Elaine, his wife.”
 
The sale is “expected to bring a total of $200,000 to $250,000, highlights include Steinbeck’s acceptance speech for his 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature and numerous manuscripts written in his neat script on lined yellow paper, on topics as diverse as his Irish roots and observations on camping. Additionally, his library of some 800 books, including 400 hardbound reference volumes, first editions and presentation copies — many with his rubber stamp or signature — is being offered as a single lot at a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.”