NEW YORK, NY.- On October 25 in New York, Bonhams presented John Steinbeck: The Mary Steinbeck Dekker Family Collection – a single-owner auction from the family of the author’s youngest sister which featured a treasure trove of letters, manuscripts, diaries, presentation copy novels, and personal ephemera. The sale saw multiple works by Steinbeck soar past previous auction world records including a first edition of In Dubious Battle which achieved more than nine times its estimate. The novel, inscribed to his niece and her husband, sold for $54,000 in stark contrast to the penciled in price of $8.50 which Steinbeck thought was high at the time noting in his inscription: "what a price for a proletarian book." Also achieving records were first edition, presentation copies of Tortilla Flat, sold for four times its estimate at $58,000, and The Pastures of Heaven, sold for three times its estimate at $32,000 – both of which were inscribed by Steinbeck to his sister Mary.

There was also particular interest in material which provided insight into the celebrated author’s personal life including a vast archive of correspondence from Steinbeck to his younger sister Mary discussing both personal and professional milestones which sold for $255,000. Also achieving exceptional results was Steinbeck’s personal journal from 1949 which sold for $70,000, more than three times its estimate. The journal, which begins "I don’t suppose anyone ever so hated a year as I hated 1948… Wife, children, best friend all gone. But perhaps it toughened me. I hope so.”, details his despair at the loss of his best friend Ed Ricketts, the end of his marriage to his second wife Gwen, and the long journey to writing again.

The sale dedicated to Steinbeck material achieved $1 million overall and included personal letters, journals and ephemera. A fragment of the original handwritten draft of Of Mice and Men destroyed by Steinbeck’s dog sold for more than six times its estimate.

Overall, the sale achieved $1 million with 83% sold by lot and 96% sold by value.

Additional highlights of the sale include:

·A fragment of Steinbeck’s original handwritten draft of Of Mice and Men, which was destroyed by his dog Toby in 1936, sold for $13,000 – more than six times its estimate.

·A heretofore unknown Steinbeck journal from February to March 1938 which provides a raw and important look at the writer's journey as he works his way toward his masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath, sold for $32,000, and Steinbeck’s daybook journal from 1947 which was used as the raw material for his 1947 memoir, A Russian Journal, sold for $32,000.

·A letter from Steinbeck to his sister Mary detailing a serious fight with his wife Carol sold for eight times its estimate at $24,000.

·A heartbreaking draft of a letter Steinbeck wrote to his sons dated January 5, 1949, discovered tucked into one of Steinbeck's journals from the same year, achieved six times its estimate when it sold for $19,000.