Books

Paris: Contact Publishing Company, 1923. First Edition. The Nobel Prize-winning author's first book, published in a tiny run by Robert McAlmon's Contact Publishing Co. in Paris. The three stories – "Up in Michigan," "Out of Season," and "My Old Man" – appear here for the first time, along with four of the ten poems. The remaining six first appeared in the January, 1923 issue of Poetry. One of the great literary debuts in 20th century literature, and one that turns up frequently enough, though usually worn, torn, soiled, and foxed – seldom in anything approaching pristine condition. Grissom A.1.1.a; Hanneman A1.a. One of 300 copies. Slim octavo (18cm); original bluish-grey wrappers, titled in black on front cover; [x],58,[59-64]pp. The tiny, contemporary rubber-stamped word "FRANCE" appears at lower margin of p.[60]. Some very subtle tanning to the text edges, else a fresh, Fine copy, the blue-grey wrappers unfaded and retaining their original color. Lacking the rare…

"Three Stories & Ten Poems" was printed in Dijon by Maurice Darantiere, the same printer of "Ulysses" the year prior, and was published by Robert McAlmon's firm. This book marks the first publication of the stories "Up in Michigan", "Out of Season", and "My Old Man", along with the poems "Oklahoma", "Captives", "Montparnasse", and "Along With Youth". The other six poems were first published in the January 1923 issue of Poetry magazine under the collective title "Wanderings". This edition includes some of Hemingway's earliest surviving works, as his first wife, Hadley Richardson, lost a suitcase filled with his manuscripts in 1922. Hemingway was deeply involved in the production of this first publication, taking as much care as he did with his first child (Mellow, p. 239), and collaborated with Gertrude Stein on the typographical cover design. Edmund Wilson's insightful review of Hemingway's work, following his second book, "in our time" (1924), noted: "His prose is of the first distinction, [demonstrating] a naiveté of language often passing into the colloquialism of the character dealt with, which serves actually to convey profound emotions and complex themes."