Skip to content

Cart

Your cart is empty

Article: Exploring the Dust Jacket Design of Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms"

20th Century Books

Exploring the Dust Jacket Design of Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms"

This first edition printing of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms features a striking dust jacket design by the artist Cleonike Damianakes Wilkins, who worked as an illustrator under the pen name of Cleon. Wilkins was known for her distinctive fusion of Art Deco and Hellenistic styles. She designed the dust jackets for Hemingway’s earlier The Sun Also Rises in 1926 and his later publication In Our Time in 1930, as well as Conrad Aiken’s Great Circle, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men, and Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz. 

Wilkins was chosen by Hemingway’s celebrated editor at Scribner’s, Maxwell Perkins. In order to differentiate Hemingway’s tale from other, competing WWI novels on the bookshop shelves, Perkins sought to widen its appeal through the dust jacket. The resulting design was Wilkins’ interpretation of Sandro Botticelli’s epic oil painting “Venus and Mars,” and the triumph of love over war. Her classical figures appealed to a female audience and allayed the more shocking elements and language in Hemingway’s blunt story of war.  

Detail of A Farewell to Arms Dust Jacket Design

Hemingway was not a fan of the cover and wrote to Perkins, “I cannot admire the awful legs on that woman or the gigantic belly muscles [on the man].” Yet, Perkins’ choice proved to be the right one. A Farewell to Arms was Hemingway’s most successful publishing venture to date. Scribner's issued seven impressions of the novel in the short time between September and December of 1929, with over 100,000 volumes sold. We are lucky enough that this first edition is also signed and inscribed by Hemingway, making it all the more collectible. 

Inscription by Ernest Hemingway in a Farewell to Arms at The Great Republic

I invite our collectors to consider this first edition, dust jacketed version, signed by Hemingway. Or if your design tastes align more with Hemingway than with Perkins, consider this first edition printing, which has been recently rebound in quarter leather and cloth boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Rebound in New Leather and Cloth Boards at The Great Republic

 

Read more

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders - The Great Republic

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

The Rough Riders is a unique and compelling account of perhaps the most famous regiment in American history, as told by its Lieutenant, Theodore Roosevelt himself. Read more about this new arrival ...

Read more
George Washington and Continental Uniforms - The Great Republic
18th century

George Washington and Continental Uniforms

When George Washington became the leader of the nascent Continental army, he wanted his troops to present as a professional military organization. Although none of Washington's uniforms from the Re...

Read more

Blog posts

Patriotic and Starry: A Spectacular Centennial Flag - The Great Republic
Flags

Patriotic and Starry: A Spectacular Centennial Flag

This “1776/1876” Centennial Celebration flag is one of the more spectacular and celebratory designs to come from the nation's Centennial celebration. Flags with stars that spell out numeric or alph...

Read more
New In: A Theodore Roosevelt Signed Letter on Nonpartisan Governance from 1913 - The Great Republic
Autographs

New In: A Theodore Roosevelt Signed Letter on Nonpartisan Governance from 1913

This fantastic signed letter from Theodore Roosevelt emphasizes his stance on capable leadership over partisan loyalty. Dated July 2, 1913 and written to Roscoe Mitchell, a prominent journalist and...

Read more
Colorado in the 1890's - The Great Republic
photography

Colorado in the 1890's

The cabinet card is a style of photograph first introduced in 1863 by Windsor & Bridge in London. Consisting of a photographic print mounted on stiff card stock, the cabinet card got its name f...

Read more
Back to the top