"I BELIEVE THAT STRINDBERG RARELY SANG THE 'STAR-SPANGLED BANNER' OR ADDRESSED ROTARY CLUBS, YET SWEDEN SEEMS TO HAVE SURVIVED HIM"

(LEWIS, Sinclair). Le Prix Nobel en 1930. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1931. Large octavo, original paper wrappers, original glassine, uncut and unopened. $850.

First edition of the program from the Nobel awards for 1930, with Sinclair Lewis' speech accepting the prize for Literature printed in full.

The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Sinclair Lewis sparked a strong reaction in many quarters in the United States, with many conservatives finding his displays of American shortcomings to be anti-American, and many of the younger modernists finding his style conservative and reactionary. Lewis, well received by the Swedes upon his arrival in Stockholm, discusses both of these factions extensively. In addition to Lewis' speech accepting the prize for literature, the program prints papers by three Nobel winners for that year: C.V. Raman (Physics—the first individual from Asia to receive a Nobel in any branch of the sciences), Karl Landsteiner (Medicine) and Hans Fischer (Chemistry), and the text of a speech by Nathan Söderblom, the recipient that year of the Peace Prize. Gallup B57.

A near-fine copy in a chipped glassine wrapper.