Three Stories & Ten Poems

Paris: Contact Publishing Company, 1923. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first and only printing of Ernest Hemingway's legendary first published book. [viii], 58, [2] pp. Bound in publisher's original gray wraps lettered in black, lacking the scarce glassine wraps. Near Fine with light wear and toning to the spine, faint soiling to wraps. A lovely copy, housed in a custom cloth chemise case. A momentous debut and a turning point in world literature. One of only 300 copies, published by expat Robert McAlmon at Contact Publishing Co. in Paris in the summer of 1923. Four of the poems and all three of the stories made their print debut here. It was originally set to be Hemingway's sophomore effort but William Bird at Three Mountains Press dragged his heels in publishing the limited edition of In Our Time, so this came out first. Few examples of Hemingway's early work remain as his suitcase with manuscripts was stolen from a Paris train station in December 1922. Hanneman A1. (Inventory #: 140947224)