A Farewell to Arms, Signed by Ernest Hemingway, First Edition, Later Printing, in Later Dust Jacket, 1929

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. First edition, later printing. Signed and inscribed by Hemingway on the front free endpaper recto. Publisher's black cloth boards stamped in gilt; later issue illustrated dust jacket. Presented in a new archival  ¼ leather and cloth clamshell.

Presented is a signed first edition, later printing of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York, 1929, this first edition, later printing is presented with a later issue dust jacket. Hemingway signed and inscribed this printing on the front free endpaper recto, in black ink. The inscription reads, "To Bearer, hoping it is Margot with much admiration from Bumby's Father. This inscription commenced before knowing it was for Margot. Ernest Hemingway." 

Set during World War I, A Farewell to Arms tells the story of a young American Lieutenant serving as an ambulance driver in Italy struggling through love and war. The story is told through first person narration detailing many aspects of war that would have been very familiar to readers at the time, as the book was published only 11 years after the 1918 armistice. The simple, direct tone his character uses when giving his unromanticized account of the war later defined Hemingway’s writing style.

A Farewell to Arms is loosely based on Hemingway’s own experiences. The author briefly served overseas as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army, sustained injuries, and met a nurse who he eventually proposed marriage to but was declined. The novel’s post-war disillusionist subject assigned Hemingway to the “Lost Generation” of Modernist artists. The novel secured Hemingway’s place as a popular American author and became his first bestselling book.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American author and journalist. His distinctive writing style, characterized by economy of words and dry understatement, strongly influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and his public image. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works during his lifetime; a further three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of his works are now considered classics of American literature.

CONDITION: 

Octavo. Signed and inscribed by the author to the front free endpaper recto in black ink. 355 pages. Publisher's black cloth boards, stamped in gilt. Light offsetting, and a few scattered ink stains from Hemingway's inscription. Internally clean and tight, top and tail edges trimmed, fore-edge rough trimmed. The text block is lightly toned along margins and edges. 

A later issue illustrated dust jacket, presented with new Mylar for protection. Dust jacket unclipped ($2.50) with only minor edgewear, spine sunned, small dampstain to the front DJ touching the "A" in the author's surname. Near fine book with very good dust jacket.

Presented with a new archival ¼ leather and blue cloth clamshell, with gilt titles, stamps, and raised bands to the spine, and a facsimile gilt signature and Hemingway portrait inlay to the front. 

Clamshell dimensions: 8 3/4" H x 6 1/2" W x 2 1/2" D; Book dimensions: 7 5/8" H x 5 1/2" W x 1 3/8" D.