East of Eden

First UK edition. Crown 8vo. [vi], 525 pp. Green linen cloth boards, stamped in gilt to spine. Printed dustwrapper, priced '15s net' to front flap.

Light soiling to top and fore-edge; edgeworn and creased dustjacket with light crinkling to head of spine. Gift pencil inscription to flyleaf.

The first selection in Oprah's Classic Book Club. The Nobel Prize winner's novel re-imagines the biblical story of Cain and Abel as an episode in the history of the Salinas Valley of central California. Basis for the 1955 Elia Kazan film, scripted by Paul Osborn, with James Dean in his first starring role. Jo Van Fleet, in her film debut, won an Oscar. Steinbeck reportedly preferred the movie version over his own book in the way it portrayed the struggle of good over evil.

[Callil & Tóibín; The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950.]