Steinbeck, John - The Moon is Down - Viking Press: New York, 1942 - First Edition / First Printing / First State Book / First State Dust Jacket - “First Published in March 1942” stated on the copyright page with no mention of later printings as required in order to denote the first printing of the first edition. First state with no printer’s credit on the copyright page and with the period between “talk” and “this” on page 112 line 11. First state of the dust jacket with none of the corners of the front or rear flaps trimmed by the publisher.
The book has some edge wear but otherwise is very bright, clean, straight, and has square firm square binding and a clean text block. The price clipped dust jacket has soiling, rubbing edge wear and a chip missing from the upper area of the front panel. This is the true first state with the large period on page 112 reading “talk.this” and no printer credit. While not often mentioned there are two dust jacket states for this title, the first with none of the flap corners trimmed and the later state with shallow clips to the flap tips— this is the correct/earliest not trimmed state. Basis for the too often overlooked 1943 film of the same title which starred Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers, and Lee Cobb.