Le Bookiniste

[Communism] A Russian Journal With Pictures by Robert Capa

Steinbeck, John

New York: The Viking Press, 1948. First Edition, First Printing.

Small Quarto (9 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches; 247 x 167 mm), 220 pages, in green and tan cloth, in an unclipped, illustrated dust jacket (hard cover), accompanied by four photographic prints.

An account of a trip to the Soviet Union in 1947 by author John Steinbeck and photographer Robert Capa, who visited while the country was attempting to recover from the devastation of World War II. They traveled to Moscow, Stalingrad, and other cities as well as to Ukraine and Georgia, meeting numerous ordinary people (while accompanied by a minder from the government).

The New York Herald Tribune financed the trip and, along with some other newspapers, published articles by Steinbeck and photos by Capa. Indeed, included here are three photographs that were used by one of the newspapers, as indicated by layout instructions on the versos of the photos. (There's also a later publicity photo of Steinbeck.) One of the photos from the trip, showing a Georgian restaurant in Moscow, appears on page 47 of the book. Two of the trip photos are stamped on the versos with the notice that their reproduction could be used only with the "1948 Steinbeck-Capa articles on Russia," along with "Copyright 1948 by John Steinbeck."

Our copy is a first printing of the first edition, with "Printed by the Viking Press in April 1948" on the copyright page. The dust jacket carries a price of $3.75.

A fascinating look at ordinary people in the Soviet Union as the country tried to rebuild following World War II, accompanied by three photographs of scenes from the country and a publicity photo of Steinbeck.

CONDITION: Book slightly cocked, rear hinge loose, corners rubbed, spine ends bumped, end papers slightly toned, a couple of pages with vertical creases (possibly a production error). Nearly Very Good in a Good dust jacket that has some loss to both spine ends as well as a few tears, nicks, toning, foxing, and stains. The four photographs have some nicks, creases, and soiling to the edges. The versos contain notes, stamped instructions, and captions pasted on (the photo of Steinbeck has an article pasted to the verso). Some discoloration to two photos resulting from pasting of newspaper captions to the versos. Item #2521

Price: $1,000.00