The Moon is Down: John Steinbeck, First Edition 1942

📖 The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck (1942, Viking Press) — first edition, second state of Steinbeck’s wartime propaganda novel about a small coastal town under military occupation. This copy is in good-plus condition in blue cloth with a facsimile dust jacket.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: John Steinbeck (1902–1968), Nobel Prize in Literature 1962
• Publisher: The Viking Press, New York
• Year: 1942 (first edition, second state per Steinbeck bibliography)
• Format: Hardcover in blue cloth with silver spine lettering and blind-stamped front board; facsimile dust jacket
• Pages: 188
• Condition: Good Plus — see full report below

THE STORY

Steinbeck wrote The Moon Is Down in late 1941 at the request of the Office of the Coordinator of Information, the U.S. government’s propaganda arm. The novel depicts a small coastal town overrun by an unnamed occupying army — clearly Nazi Germany, though Steinbeck deliberately kept the belligerents anonymous so the book could be distributed across occupied Europe. Winston Churchill praised it; Jean-Paul Sartre called it “a message from fighting America to the European underground.” Norway awarded Steinbeck the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross in 1945 for the morale boost the novel provided to occupied nations.

THIS EDITION

The first trade edition was published by Viking Press on March 6, 1942 — months before any significant U.S. military victory. This copy is the second state of the first edition, identified by the defective “b” on page 62, line 5 (the upper half of the letter is missing). The first state had a corrected “b”; the second state is actually more common among surviving copies. The dust jacket is a high-quality facsimile reproduction from Facsimile Dust Jackets L.L.C., replicating the original 1942 jacket design in every detail except the printer’s logo on the front flap.

COVER ART & DESIGN

The jacket artwork by Frank Lieberman depicts a winter landscape in muted blues and grays — snow-covered evergreens, a small village with snow-capped roofs, and distant mountain silhouettes against a twilight sky. The design evokes the cold, isolated atmosphere of an occupied Nordic town. The hardcover binding beneath is deep blue cloth with silver lettering on the spine reading “THE MOON IS DOWN / John Steinbeck / THE VIKING PRESS,” and a blind-stamped ruled-box design on the front board. The text block has castellated (serrated) trim edges, a distinctive Viking Press design element of the era.

WHY IT MATTERS

• One of the earliest examples of literature produced as wartime propaganda, airdropped by the British across occupied Europe alongside dynamite and chocolate
• The unexpurgated French translation was secretly printed by Les Éditions de Minuit, the resistance publisher — Paul Éluard suggested the title Nuits Noires
• Title drawn from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Act II): “The moon is down; I have not heard the clock” — foreshadowing the darkness of occupation

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? First edition, second state — Viking Press, 1942. The defective “b” on page 62 line 5 confirms the second state printing.

What condition is it in? Good Plus. Blue cloth binding intact with spine somewhat cocked; no writing, no torn or folded page corners. The dust jacket is a facsimile reproduction, not an original.

Is the dust jacket original? No — it is a facsimile reproduction from Facsimile Dust Jackets L.L.C., identical to the 1942 original except for the printer’s logo on the front flap.

FOR COLLECTORS

Steinbeck first editions in any condition are collected widely, and The Moon Is Down occupies a unique niche as both a major author’s wartime work and a piece of living history — the book that was literally airdropped to resistance fighters across Europe. This second-state copy with facsimile jacket offers an affordable entry point to Steinbeck first editions.

This is a “good plus” vintage hardcover in blue cloth wrapped boards. 188 pages.

First edition, second state, as per noted Steinbeck bibliography.
Page 62, line 5 shows the “b” with the missing upper half, indicating first edition, second state.

No writing, no loose, torn or folded page corners. The binding and board hinges are intact, spine somewhat cocked.

The accompanying jacket has been custom made for this book and is an exact facsimile of the original first edition jacket issued in 1942, identical in every detail with the exception of the small lettered logo of the printer at the top of the front flap.

Please see accompanying images for full condition details.

Will make a really special gift for that Steinbeck fan in your circle! (Perhaps that is you…)

Will ship promptly, carefully packaged, fully insured.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-07-03

3 in stock