Michael Rothenstein’s illustration of Lennie Small and George Millon, the Californian migrant workers whose story is told in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, formed both the jacket illustration and the frontispiece (shown left) to the 1927, first UK edition.
In blue paper wrappers and sporting pink endpapers and stained top edge, a copy of that Heinemann edition was sold for £1200 by Keys (20% buyer’s premium) in a January 25-26 sale. Twenty years ago, a copy bearing a few autograph notes by Steinbeck made $2000 at Swanns in New York, but for a straightforward UK first the Aylsham result must surely set a record.