Sometimes the most humble packages can conceal the most amazing finds. A cardboard box that was among the effects of the late Guys and Dolls producer Ernest H. Martin has yielded Steinbeck treasure trove. The box contained a missing draft of Sweet Thursday by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. The box also held the unfinished draft of The Bear Flag Cafe, a musical comedy with Martin and partner Cy Feuer based on Steinbeck's Cannery Row from which the sequel novel emerged as well as carbon copies of 13 Steinbeck letters dated from 1953, the manuscript of The Log From The Sea of Cortez, and a never-published short story.PBA Galleries in San Francisco is auctioning off the find on May 24. The collected material totals over 300 pages. The lot has an estimate of $300,000/500,000.
