Books

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950. First American edition. Fine/Near Fine. First printing with Scribner's "A" on the copyright page and bright yellow on the jacket spine. A Fine copy of the book in Near Fine dust jacket. Book with slight offsetting to the front end papers from an old clipping laid in. Jacket with one short tear at the top of the rear flap fold and minor rubbing at the extremities. One of Hemingway's later novels, Across the River and Into the Trees follows the meditations and ruminations of Colonel Richard Cantwell, who, while sitting in a duck blind in Venice, Italy, looks back on his life. Cantwell's nostalgia and remorse sharply divided reviewers and the general reading public. While the book topped the New York Times bestseller list for many weeks, gloomy critics criticized the novel and the author. Across the River and Into the Trees is a novel that grapples with the distorting power of memory at the end of life. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.

Across the River and Into the Trees is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1950, after first being serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine. The title derives from the last words of U.S. Civil War Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson: “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” Hemingway's novel chronicles the experiences of Colonel Richard Cantwell, an aging officer in the U.S. Army, during a weekend duck-hunting trip in Italy. Reflecting on his past and his love affair with a young countess, Cantwell's narrative captures themes of love, war, youth, and age.

Detection of a first edition of 'Across the River and Into the Trees' can be confirmed by looking for the publishing details indicating 'Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950.' Additional points include checking for the 'A' on the copyright page, which Scribner's used at that time to denote first printings.