TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS)

Los Gatos, n.d. [April 1939]. Letter. Creases from mailing, including the pamphlet which has a vertical crease. Near Fine. One-page TYPED LETTER SIGNED in full in ink to Mrs. Holman [Zena Holman, wife of Wilfred Rensselar Holman of the historic Holman's Department Store in Pacific Grove, CA], responding to her question about the release of THE GRAPES OF WRATH on 5 April 1939 after it was scheduled for release on the 14th by Viking. Evidently bookstores began selling them earlier, and she has written him directly to ask if she can. Steinbeck writes: "I don't know why they have these release dates which no one keeps anyway. Apparently this book is being sold all over the state. And if one store does it I can't see any reason for others not to." She must have inquired about a pamphlet she saw in San Francisco that was being sold. "Enclosed is probably the pamphlet you speak of. I did not know that it was being sold or anything about it except that a few were sent me by Viking. As to the one in San Francisco you speak of, I have never heard of it." The pamphlet Steinbeck sent--JOHN STEINBECK. PERSONAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES by Lewis Gannett, published by Viking in 1939, 14 pages--is included here with the letter. With the envelope.