A first edition of the acclaimed novel The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck, published by The John Day Publishing Company Inc of New York in 1931. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and the author later won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker (1892-1973) grew up in China as the daughter of American missionaries. Buck was the name of her first husband. The Good Earth is set in rural China in the early 20th century and follows the lives of farming couple Wang Lung and O-Lan and their family. The use ofThe John Day Publishing Company Incon the copyright page instead of justThe John Day Companyshows that this is a first impression of the first edition. (It also has the mistakefleesinstead offleason page 100, but this continued in two later printings.) Hardcover in beige cloth, no dust jacket. Faded titles, marks on covers, bumped corners and top and bottom of spine. Spine lean. Brown topstain as issued (its not that the page tops are dirty). Internally v