"THAT MUSICAL CRYSTAL-CLEAR STYLE, BLOWN LIKE GLASS FROM THE WHITE-HEAT OF VIOLENCE"

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. Octavo, original black cloth, gold paper labels, original dust jacket. $9500.

First trade edition, first issue, of the novel that "placed Hemingway, early, among the American masters," in scarce unrestored first-issue dust jacket. An exceptional copy.

"Probably [Hemingway's] best… Its success was so enormous… After it one could no more imitate that musical crystal-clear style; blown like glass from the white-heat of violence… the beginning, like all his beginnings, seems effortless and magical" (Connolly, Modern Movement 60). "The novel that placed Hemingway, early, among the American masters… the most satisfying and most sustained, the consummate masterpiece, among Hemingway's novels. It bears the mark of Hemingway's best gifts as a writer" (Mellow, 377-79). First edition, first printing, with publisher's seal on copyright page, no disclaimer on page x; in first-issue Art Deco dust jacket by Cleonike Damianakes, with front flap misspelling of the heroine's name as "Katharine Barclay" instead of "Catherine Barkley." Appeared simultaneously with a limited edition of 510 numbered copies. Hanneman 8a. Bruccoli & Clark, 178. Grissom A.8.1.a.

Text with staining to some pages between 215-230, cloth with light rubbing to rear panel, front board paper label; unrestored dust jacket bright and lovely with short closed tear to top of front flap fold, wear around spine head, a few spots to rear panel, very mild fading to spine. An extremely good copy.