The Writings of
John Steinbeck
...as published by
Bantam Books

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

I read some of his works in high school (The Pearl and Of Mice and Men) and a few more in art school (notably The Grapes of Wrath, In Dubious Battle and Travels with Charley). In September 2009 I bought the used copy at the right of East of Eden, part of Bantam's ambitious series of reprints with the Nobel symbol on the back. The book covers were illustrated by (usually) a vignette style image, and a few of them were by (I suspect) James Bama (uncredited). Bama, of Doc Savage fame, did a lot of work of Bantam, and many of his monochromatic, hyper-realistic images graced everything from historical to war books for Bantam. The sparse white backgrounds formed the perfect counterpoint to many of Steinbeck's bold themes of the good and evil that men do.

This copy of East of Eden was read by myself and my wife. There is something fitting about this tattered copy that is reminiscent of the trials and tribulations of Adam Trask in this epic novel of Americans in Salinas Valley at the turn of the century. Below are two other covers I suspect were painted by James Bama (at least by artists instructed to look like James Bama).

Steinbeck's first novel from 1929, his only historical novel, it is about the pirate Henry Morgan. The cover has a small artists signature, which appears to say "Hall". There is no inside credit on this 1970 edition.

In 1940 Steinbeck and his friend, the biologist Edward Ricketts, made a journey to collect sea specimens from the waters and beaches of the Gulf od California. Ricketts is the real-life model for the character Doc in the novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. Not sure who painted this intriguing vignette.

This is an interesting piece of non-fiction: before starting work each day on East of Eden, Steinbeck wrote a letter to his editor. Many of the entries concern the day's plans for the book, as well as thoughts about how the book evolved from the day before. The only art credit is a cryptic signature on the cover: "Savage".

In Dubious Battle is a precursor to themes of workers in the California depression, communism and labor violence found in The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. No interior art credit in these editions, but the signatures in the art on In Dubious Battle and Travels With Charley seem to read " HRogers"... maybe. The cover for Pastures of Heaven (a short story collection, loosely tied together by the common setting of California) seems to have been painted by the same artist.

This is one of three works Steinbeck wrote in the "play as novel" form. The most famous one was Of Mice and Men. The cover for Burning Bright was painted by Gene Szafran, who painted lots of science fiction covers for Bantam and others in the late 60s and early 70s. This edition is pretty cool because it has what appears to be spontaneous line art of characters, costumes and sets sprinkled quite liberally throughout the brief tale.

These two cover vignettes seem to be painted by the same watercolor artist;
I have no idea who that would be, but I have seen the style on other books from the 70s.

All cover art and book designs copyright Bantam Books.
Caricature of John Steinbeck and text is copyright Ron Hill, 2009.