March 2016 Auction Ends Thursday, March 31st, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/31/2016
John Steinbeck personally owned and worn hat. Deerstalker style cap in brown houndstooth tweed was cherished by Steinbeck as a memento from the year he spent in Cornwall, England; a time he ultimately characterized as the single best year of his life, according to his son Thomas. Steinbeck indulged his lifelong fascination with King Arthur lore by traveling in 1959 to Cornwall, the purported place of Arthur's conception. There, he personally translated Sir Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' from Middle English, reportedly in an effort to study the musicality inherent in that version for inclusion in his own adaptation. Though he never fully completed it, Steinbeck's notes from this passion project were published posthumously as ''The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights: From the Winchester Manuscripts of Thomas Malory (and Other Sources)'', Farrar Straus Giroux: New York: 1976. In the book's introduction, Steinbeck describes his first encounter with literature: ''...One day, an aunt gave me a book and fatuously ignored my resentment. I stared at the black print with hatred, and then gradually the pages opened and let me in. The magic happened. The Bible and Shakespeare and Pilgrim's Progress belonged to everyone. But this was mine - secretly mine. It was a cut version of the Caxon 'Morte d'Arthur' of Thomas Malory. I loved the old spelling of the words - and the words no longer used. Perhaps a passionate love for the English language opened to me from this one book...For a long time, I had a secret language...'' Themes from Arthurian legend heavily permeate and even characterize Steinbeck's body of work; the Nobel laureate himself states (also in the introduction): ''...I think my sense of right and wrong, my feeling of noblesse oblige, and any thought I may have against the oppressor and for the oppressed came from this secret book [Le Morte d'Arthur]. In pain or sorrow or confusion, I went back to my magic book. Children are violent and cruel - and good - and I was all of these - and all of these were in the secret book. If I could not choose my way at the crossroads of love and loyalty, neither could Lancelot. I could understand the darkness of Mordred because he was in me too; and there was some Galahad in me, but perhaps not enough. The Grail feeling was there, however, deep-planted, and perhaps always will be...'' Hat bears the label of Lock & Co Hatters of St. James's Street, London to the lining. Ear flaps tie on the top with attached grosgrain ribbon in chocolate brown. Measures 11.75'' from bill to bill. Inside circumference is 22.75'', or size 7 1/4. Some wear and staining to the lining from wear by Steinbeck, else near fine. Deerstalker hat, also called a fore-and-aft cap for its front and rear bills, aptly bookends his career, representing at once Steinbeck's early inspiration in literature and one of his last works ever published. While Steinbeck books are found in collecting, seldom are his personal effects or apparel available. With an LOA from his son Thomas Steinbeck.
John Steinbeck's Deerstalker Cap -- Worn the Year He Lived in Cornwall, England, Researching Literature He Cites as His Greatest Influence -- With LOA From Thomas Steinbeck
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