STEINBECK, John.
The Moon Is Down.
New York: The Viking Press , 1942.
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“I'm tired of people who have not been at war who know all about it": First Edition of John Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
First edition, second issue of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s classic work. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery with gilt titles and ruling to the spine in five compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated. Founded over a century ago in 1900, the Harcourt Bindery is the oldest and largest traditional bindery in America exclusively devoted to fine traditional leather bookbinding by hand. Harcourt Bindery uses 22 karat genuine gold leaf, top grades of Nigerian moroccos, and hand marbled papers from craftsmen representing seven countries. In fine condition.
In 1941 Steinbeck met “with officials of the Foreign Information Service, a newly formed unit of what would soon become the Office of Strategic Services, to discuss the future of American counterpropaganda efforts. The Moon Is Down, begun later the same month, had its origins in Steinbeck’s long-standing desire to contribute to these efforts… Steinbeck submitted a first finished draft of The Moon Is Down, originally written as a play (called ‘The New Order’) and set in a mid-sized town in the United States, to agency officials; they turned it down, concerned that the prospect of an occupied America might lower morale. Early in December Steinbeck began revising the work, shifting the setting to a generic northern Europe and recasting the play as a novel; he sent his revised draft to Pascal Covici, his editor at Viking, later in December. The Moon Is Down [as a novel] appeared in book form in March 1942. A stage version opened on Broadway on April 9, 1942, and was published by Dramatists Play Service in New York later in the same year” (Library of America). Second issue with the Haddon Craftsmen name on the copyright page and no period between "talk" and "this" on p. 112, line 11
The Moon Is Down.
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