A FRAGMENT OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF OF MICE AND...
A FRAGMENT OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF OF MICE AND MEN, EATEN BY THE DOG.
Autograph Manuscript, small fragment from Steinbeck's original handwritten draft for Of Mice and Men destroyed by his dog Toby, approx. 63 x 50 mm, [Pacific Grove, c.May 27, 1936], edges rough, closed tear at center.
RARE AUTOGRAPH FRAGMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL JOURNAL DRAFT FOR OF MICE AND MEN, FEATURING THE BEGINNING OF THE FAMOUS DEAD MOUSE SCENE.
There are no bad dogs, but Toby the spaniel did a bad thing. In May of 1936, Steinbeck wrote his agent Elizabeth Otis: "Minor tragedy stalked. My setter pup, left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my manuscript book. Two months work to do over again. It set me back. There was no other draft. I was pretty mad, but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically" (Steinbeck to Otis May 27, 1936). Steinbeck had to start over on Of Mice and Men, completing the new draft by August of that year.
This rare fragment from that original journal features pieces of the beginning of the dead mouse scene from the first chapter, foreshadowing the central conflict of the story: "... George.' Lenny's hands went ... had it. I got both of 'em here ... What you got in your hand...." In the final published version, the scene begins with Lennie fishing in his pockets, ostensibly for his work card: "'George, I ain't got mine. I musta lost it.' He looked down at the ground in despair. / 'You never had none, you crazy bastard. I got both of 'em here. Think I'd let you carry your own work card?'" When Lennie reaches back into his pocket, the scene continues, "George looked sharply at him, 'What'd you take outta that pocket?' / 'Ain't a thing in my pocket,' said Lennie cleverly. / 'I know there ain't. You got it in your hand. What you got in your hand — hidin' it?' / 'I ain't got nothin' George. Honest." Until finally, Lennie reveals, "Jus' a dead mouse, George. I didn't kill it. Honest!"
The scene, while establishing the relationship between George and Lennie, foreshadows the climactic scene where Lennie strokes Curley's wife's hair, before accidentally breaking her neck, and leading George to shoot Lennie in order to save him from hanging.
On the verso, the scrap reads: "... bank the dead ... noise shattering an ... evening. The lambs ... from the rear."
The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University has a chewed-up fragment of Of Mice and Men found as part of Carol Steinbeck's donated scrapbooks. We have located no other fragments institutionally or in rare book hub: a rare chance to own a portion of the original Of Mice and Men manuscript.
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A FRAGMENT OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF OF MICE AND MEN, EATEN BY THE DOG.
Autograph Manuscript, small fragment from Steinbeck's original handwritten draft for Of Mice and Men destroyed by his dog Toby, approx. 63 x 50 mm, [Pacific Grove, c.May 27, 1936], edges rough, closed tear at center.
RARE AUTOGRAPH FRAGMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL JOURNAL DRAFT FOR OF MICE AND MEN, FEATURING THE BEGINNING OF THE FAMOUS DEAD MOUSE SCENE.
There are no bad dogs, but Toby the spaniel did a bad thing. In May of 1936, Steinbeck wrote his agent Elizabeth Otis: "Minor tragedy stalked. My setter pup, left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my manuscript book. Two months work to do over again. It set me back. There was no other draft. I was pretty mad, but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically" (Steinbeck to Otis May 27, 1936). Steinbeck had to start over on Of Mice and Men, completing the new draft by August of that year.
This rare fragment from that original journal features pieces of the beginning of the dead mouse scene from the first chapter, foreshadowing the central conflict of the story: "... George.' Lenny's hands went ... had it. I got both of 'em here ... What you got in your hand...." In the final published version, the scene begins with Lennie fishing in his pockets, ostensibly for his work card: "'George, I ain't got mine. I musta lost it.' He looked down at the ground in despair. / 'You never had none, you crazy bastard. I got both of 'em here. Think I'd let you carry your own work card?'" When Lennie reaches back into his pocket, the scene continues, "George looked sharply at him, 'What'd you take outta that pocket?' / 'Ain't a thing in my pocket,' said Lennie cleverly. / 'I know there ain't. You got it in your hand. What you got in your hand — hidin' it?' / 'I ain't got nothin' George. Honest." Until finally, Lennie reveals, "Jus' a dead mouse, George. I didn't kill it. Honest!"
The scene, while establishing the relationship between George and Lennie, foreshadows the climactic scene where Lennie strokes Curley's wife's hair, before accidentally breaking her neck, and leading George to shoot Lennie in order to save him from hanging.
On the verso, the scrap reads: "... bank the dead ... noise shattering an ... evening. The lambs ... from the rear."
The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University has a chewed-up fragment of Of Mice and Men found as part of Carol Steinbeck's donated scrapbooks. We have located no other fragments institutionally or in rare book hub: a rare chance to own a portion of the original Of Mice and Men manuscript.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
