Books

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1937. First edition. Hardcover. Publisher's black cloth lettered in gilt. backstrip with two green labels lettered and decorated in gilt. Very good/Near fine. 262 pages. 21 x 14 cm. With first edition confirmed by letter A on verso of title. This novel served as the basis for Howard Hawk's film co-scripted by Faulkner that starred Humphrey Bogart as Harry Morgan and co-starred Lauren Becall. This effort was Hemingway's first long work of fiction since "A Farewell ti Arms," published eight years earlier. Original unclipped dust wrapper with $2.50 price. Interior contents and covers clean and fresh, with slight chipping at spine ends and corners of the dust wrapper.

To Have and Have Not is the dramatic story of Harry Morgan, an honest man who is forced into running contraband between Cuba and Key West as a means of keeping his crumbling family financially afloat. His adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair. Hemingway's most intriguing and tantalizing themes make their appearance: man's battle against the cruelty of nature, the pressures of society on the individual, and the existential qualities of life in the modern world.

One method to determine a first edition of 'To Have and Have Not' is by identifying the 'A' present on the copyright page, indicating a first printing, and absence of mention of later printings.