Across the River and Into the Trees [First Printing]

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950. First printing w/'A' and Scribner colophon at copyright page. Black, full-cloth boards, gilt stamped facsimile Hemingway signature at front, spine titles, light shelf wear, rub. Pages near fine, clean. Stylish antiquarian signature inside cover: "Shirley A. Stokes". Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Dust wrapper, moderate shelf wear, chip; unclipped 3.00, protected in new clear sleeve. Jacket design by A. Ivancich; spine titles on orange field. Classic portrait of Hemingway holding one of his cats at back panel. Ernest Hemingway's first novel in a decade - since For Whom the Bell Tolls - holds the essential emotion of that phenomenally successful book. In 'Across the River and into the Trees' there is a concept of the same intensity. Like the story of the Spanish civil war, which was centered upon a microcosm of action - the tense last days of an American in the midst of a group of guerrilla fighters, the story limits its scope to a very short span in the life of an American. This story builds its bridge not of days, but of hours, and it is even more charged with feeling. For many readers it will evoke a memorable earlier novel, A Farewell to Arms, because the background again is Italy, and again it is war. This newer war, however, is already in the past. The fighting is over; the reader hears only its echoes. Venice is the scene. Colonel Richard Cantwell of the United States Army is the principal figure, and perhaps the most complex character Hemingway ever presented. 308 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.