5 First Edition Books that Marilyn Monroe owned

Marilyn Monroe owned over 400 books in her lifetime, and a large number of them were first editions. I have been able to add several to my recreation of her collection (including Hawaii and Invisible Man noted below). As I work my way through the books she owned to make the spreadsheet of all of her books, I have found eleven first editions (and I am only about a fourth of the way through her collection).

Here are five:

1. Once There Was a War by John Steinbeck

2. Hawaii by James Michener

3. Ulysses by James Joyce (technically a “first American edition”)

4. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

5. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Are you surprised by any of these? Have you read any of them?