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A Farewell to Arms  [First State Wrapper]

A Farewell to Arms [First State Wrapper]

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A Farewell to Arms [First State Wrapper]

by Hemingway, Ernest

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  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
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About This Item

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. First printing in rare first issue wrapper. Scribner colophon at copyright page with no additional printings stated; no disclaimer verso dedication page. Smooth, coated, black cloth boards, gold cover and spine labels stamped in black ink, light shelf wear. Labels remain bright and crisp. Bind fine, moderate cant; hinges intact. Deckled pages near fine, clean. Small blue antiquarian bookstore label inside back cover: "Brentano's, Booksellers & Stationers, Washington D.C." Original first edition Cleon wrapper with Catherine Barkley misspelled as Katharine Barclay in front flap summary, moderate shelf wear, rub, toning, chip; unclipped 2.50, protected in new clear sleeve. Very attractive and rare. Wrapper art and design by Cleonike "Cleon" Damianakes, an illustrator and etcher who designed some of the most iconic jackets of the era. Rare near fine first printing in near very good original wrapper. The story recounts the romance between Frederic Henry, an American soldier, and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. Heavily autobiographical, the plot was directly inspired by Hemingway's relationship with Agnes von Kurowsky in Milan. Catherine's parturition (childbirth) was inspired by the intense labor pains of Pauline in the birth of Patrick - Ernest' second wife and second son - and the real-life Kitty Cannell inspired the fictional Helen Ferguson. The priest was based on Don Giuseppe Bianchi, the priest of the 69th and 70th regiments of the Brigata Ancona. 355 pages. Insured post. Ernest Hemingway's third full-length novel following The Torrents of Spring and The Sun Also Rises. The story recounts the romance between Frederic Henry, an American soldier, and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse. Heavily autobiographical, the plot was directly inspired by Hemingway's relationship with Agnes von Kurowsky in Milan. Catherine's parturition (childbirth) was inspired by the intense labor pains of Pauline in the birth of Patrick - Ernest' second wife and second son - and the real-life Kitty Cannell inspired the fictional Helen Ferguson. The priest was based on Don Giuseppe Bianchi, the priest of the 69th and 70th regiments of the Brigata Ancona. 355 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Book.

Synopsis

Set during World War 1, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and his love affair with an English nurse named Catherine Barkley. The novel is semi-autobiographical, based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the war. While some assume the title of the work to be taken from a poem by 16th century English dramatist George Peele, others believe it to be a simple pun of the word “arms.” A Farewell to Arms was first serialized in the May-October issues Scribner's Magazine 1929. It was published in book form in September of that year. As the work became available to the public just over ten years after the November 1918 armistice, Hemingway assumed his audience would recognize many of the references. In fact, certain basic information isn't alluded to in the book at all, as it was common knowledge around the time of publication. The result of this immediacy? Arguably one of the best novels written about World War I… ever. A Farewell to Arms was Hemingway's first bestseller, affording him financial independence and cementing his stature as a modern American writer. More specifically, the novel and its content helped to established the author as a key member of the “Lost Generation,” a subset of Modernist artists namely defined by their post-war disillusionment. A Farewell to Arms is ranked 74th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. 

Read More: Identifying first editions of A Farewell to Arms [First State Wrapper]

Reviews

On Dec 18 2015, a reader said:
It has a good plot, but its boring.

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Details

Bookseller
BiblioStax US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
021621
Title
A Farewell to Arms [First State Wrapper]
Author
Hemingway, Ernest
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
Good
Edition
First Edition
Publisher
Charles Scribner's Sons
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1929
Size
12mo - over 6¾" - 7&
Weight
0.00 lbs

Terms of Sale

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About the Seller

BiblioStax

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2005
Rapid River, Michigan

About BiblioStax

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Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

12mo
A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
Crisp
A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Shelf Wear
Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
Colophon
The colophon contains information about a book's publisher, the typesetting, printer, and possibly even includes a printer's...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Verso
The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
Copyright page
The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...

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