Rare vintage 1937 first edition of Steinbeck’s novel.

John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, the story of the bond
between two migrant workers, is published. He adapted the book
into a three-act play, which was produced the same year. The
story brought national attention to Steinbeck’s work, which had
atarted to catch on in 1935 with the publication of his first novel, 
the successful Tortilla Flat.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr.
(February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968)

Steinbeck won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature 
"for his realistic and imaginative writings”..

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870)

Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school at the age of 12
to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors’
prison. After three years he was returned to school, before he began
his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for
20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories
and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, and campaigned vigorously for children’s rights, education and other social reforms.

In 1836 Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, with whom he would
have nine children. He died from a stroke in 1870 at the age of 58,
with his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, still unfinished.

George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)

“The War of the Worlds”, Orson Welles’s realistic radio drama
of a Martian invasion of Earth, was originally broadcast live on
the CBS network, Sunday evening, October 30, 1938.

Welles was only 23 years old when his Mercury Theater company
decided to update H.G. Wells’ 19th-century science fiction novel
The War of the Worlds for national radio. Despite his age, Welles
had been in radio for several years, most notably as the voice of
“The Shadow” in the hit mystery program of the same name. “War
of the Worlds” was not planned as a radio hoax, and Welles had
little idea of how legendary it would eventually become.

Orson Welles as he was interviewed after the “War of the Worlds” broadcast in 1938. (Daily News)

Edgar Allan Poe’s story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," first
appeared in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine. The
tale is generally considered to be the first detective story.

The story describes the extraordinary “analytical power” used
by Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin to solve a series of murders in
Paris. Like the later Sherlock Holmes stories, the tale is narrated
by the detective’s roommate.

Following the publication of Poe’s story, detective stories began
to grow into novels and English novelist Wilkie Collins published
a detective novel, The Moonstone, in 1868.

General George Washington at Valley Forge.