Description
First edition, first printing of Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts, inscribed to fellow oceanographer Ivan T. Sanderson.
Octavo, [6], vii-x, 598pp. Green cloth, title stamped in silver on spine and front panel. The first printing, with “First Published in December 1941.” Top edge dyed pink. Shelf wear to cloth boards, wear to the tips of the boards. Stamps from the “Ivan T. Sanderson Foundation” on the title page and bottom of the text block. Toning and soiling to the spine. Illustrated endpapers with maps of Baja California. Complete with 40 photographic plates, 8 in color.
In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $5.00 on front flap, numerous closed tears, wear along hinges, light toning to the spine, delicate hinges, a very good example. Housed in custom blue cloth clamshell, title in gilt on the spine. (Goldstone & Payne A15b)
This copy is inscribed on the half-title: “For Ivan Sanderson / recalling a very darn fine evening / John Steinbeck.”
Ivan T. Sanderson (1911–1973) was a Scottish naturalist, author, and journalist known for his wide-ranging work in zoology, exploration, and popular science writing. Trained in zoology at Cambridge University, he conducted expeditions in Africa and the Caribbean, studying wildlife and collecting specimens for museums, and later became a well-known writer and broadcaster in the United States. While he published respected works on animals and natural history, Sanderson also gained attention for his interest in cryptozoology—the study of unknown or legendary creatures such as Bigfoot and the Yeti.
John Steinbeck carried a copy of Sanderson’s book, “Caribbean Treasure,” aboard the Western Flyer during Steinbeck and Ricketts’ 1940 expedition to the Gulf of California.
