Hemingway, Ernest. First edition of the author's first book

HEMINGWAY, ERNEST

THREE STORIES & TEN POEMS. [PARIS]: CONTACT PUBLISHING, 1923

12mo. Original publisher's blue gray wrappers, printed in black, fore and bottom edges untrimmed; hint of slight tanning at edges, minuscule nick, without loss, to upper wrapper at spine. In half morocco folding case and fleece-lined chemise.

First edition of the author's first book

Limited to perhaps 300 copies and published when he was just 24, Hemingway's first book contained not only the prize-winning story "My Old Man," but also "Up in Michigan" and "Out of Season" plus the poetry. Expatriate publisher Robert McAlmon used the same Dijon printer Sylvia Beach had used for Ulysses the year before. Such was the eventual demand for the present work that Hemingway later complained about not having kept one for himself and the prices it ultimately commanded from collectors. It was by far the most sought after of all McAlmon's Contact publications.

The rear wrapper gives a notice of the author's in our time, but that work would not be issued for nearly a year, though it was originally planned to precede the present title.

REFERENCE:

Grissom A.1; Hanneman A1a