STEINBECK, John (1902-1968). Of Mice and Men. New York: Covici-Friede, 1937. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, including the line ?...and only moved because the heavy hands were pendula.? on page 9, as well as the bullet between the 8s on page 88, top edge stained blue. Steinbeck?s novella portraying the lives of George Milton and Lennie Small, migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression, was based on his own experiences working alongside migrant farm workers in the 1910s. Goldstone & Payne A7a.