Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway, First Edition, First Printing, in Second Issue Dust Jacket, 1950

Hemingway, Ernest, Across the River and Into the Trees. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950. Octavo. First American edition, first printing, in publisher’s full black cloth boards, front board and spine stamped in gilt. In second issue dust jacket, with orange spine lettering.  

This first American edition, first printing of Ernest Hemingway’s Across the River and Into the Trees was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York, 1950. The book is issued in the publisher’s full black cloth boards, with the front board and spine stamped in gilt. The book is presented in a second issue dust jacket, with an illustration of Venice on the front and orange spine lettering. 

Set mostly in Venice after World War I, Hemingway’s Across the River and Into the Trees follows the end-of-life reflections of one man. Considering themes such as death, love, and the major stages of life, his novel was well-received in America. In a 1950 New York Times article, Tennessee Williams wrote: "I could not go to Venice, now, without hearing the haunted cadences of Hemingway's new novel. It is the saddest novel in the world about the saddest city, and when I say I think it is the best and most honest work that Hemingway has done, you may think me crazy. It will probably be a popular book. The critics may treat it pretty roughly. But its hauntingly tired cadences are the direct speech of a man's heart who is speaking that directly for the first time, and that makes it, for me, the finest thing Hemingway has done."

Across the River and Into the Trees was first serialized and issued in five parts in Cosmopolitan, from February to June 1950. The novel was published in America by Scribner's on September 7, 1950, with a first edition print run of 75,000. The English edition, published by Jonathan Cape in London, preceded the American edition by three days.

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.

CONDITION: 

First edition, first printing, with the Scribner colophon and “A” on the copyright page. Near fine condition. 8vo. Publisher’s full black cloth boards, front board and spine stamped in gilt. Cloth spine lightly toned, mild rubbing, soiling to cloth. Interior pages very clean and bright, paper is healthy, save small dog-eared creases on  pp. 156 and 157 top corners. 308 pp. 

In second issue dust jacket, with orange spine lettering. Unclipped, with “$3.00” price.  Jacket spine a bit toned, some rubbing, creasing along the spine, toning to jacket. Near fine jacket. Jacket wrapped in mylar. 

Book Dimensions: 8 1/2" H x 6" W x 1 1/4" D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.