Of Mice and Men first-draft fragment torn up by Steinbeck’s dog goes to auction

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A surviving fragment of the original draft of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men – much of which was eaten by the American writer’s dog, Toby – is going up for auction next month.

“Minor tragedy stalked,” wrote Steinbeck in a letter to his editor on 27 May 1936. “My setter pup, left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my book. Two months work to do over again. It sets me back. There was no other draft.”

The fragment will go up for sale on 25 October in New York along with other manuscripts, letters and personal ephemera of the novelist.
Of Mice and Men’s main characters, Lennie and George, are both mentioned on the torn fragment. “I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically,” Steinbeck wrote in his letter. “I didn’t want to ruin a good dog for a ms [manuscript]. I’m not sure it is good at all. He only got an ordinary spanking with his punishment flyswatter. But there’s the work to do over from the start.”

“I’m not sure Toby didn’t know what he was doing when he ate the first draft,” he continued. “I have promoted Toby-dog to be a lieutenant-colonel in charge of literature. But as for the unpredictable literary enthusiasms of this country, I have little faith in them.”

Also going under the hammer is Steinbeck’s personal journal from 1949, which begins: “I don’t suppose anyone ever so hated a year as I hated 1948 … Wife, children, best friend all gone. But perhaps it toughened me. I hope so.” The diary details the end of the writer’s marriage to his second wife, Gwen, and his despair at the loss of his best friend, Ed Ricketts.

The items in the sale, held by Bonhams, come directly from the family of Steinbeck’s youngest sister, Mary Steinbeck Dekker. Correspondence between the author and his family is due to be sold at an expected price of $250,000-$350,000 (£204,000-£285,000). A wrought-iron sword given by the writer to Mary is also up for auction.

The original typed manuscript of Steinbeck’s first novel, Cup of Gold, is also included in the sale, featuring extensive margin notes by an unknown reader as well as small corrections throughout made by the author. It is estimated to sell for $100,000-$150,000 (£82,000-£122,000).

Number one of only 10 copies of The Grapes of Wrath – the novel that won Steinbeck the Pulitzer prize – that were specially bound for the author will also go under the hammer.