Hemingway, Ernest

Three Stories & Ten Poems. Paris: Contact Publishing, 1923

12mo (175 x 109 mm). Unopened and untrimmed. Original printed gray-blue paper wrappers, folding over the first and last blank leaves, glassine jacket; jacket 🦩with small marginal tears and creasing. Blue cloth chemise and quarter morocco slipcase.

The Whitney—Rechler copy. A clean, bright example of Hemingway's first book.

Published when Hemingway was just 24, Three Stories and Ten Poems included the prize-winning story "My Old Man" along with "Out of Season" and "Up in Michigan" and the poems. It was dedicated to his wife, Hadley. In December 1922 Hadley had decided to bring a suitcase full of Hemingway's existing writings to him in Geneva, but it was tragically lost. Only "Up in Michigan", which was in a drawer, and "My Old Man", which was with a magazine editor, survived. These therefore 💦represent the sole surviving writings of Hemingway before he was forced to start from scratch.

Though Three Stories and Ten Poems sold miserably, "My Old Man" gained Hemingway his first serious literary recognition. It was included in The Best Short Stories of 1923, edited by Edward J. O'Brien. On top of this, O'Brien asked permission to dedicate the upcoming anthology to his young discovery. The young writer agreed, adding: "And to show you how much I appreciate it I will make a very solemn vow to you and God never to think about any readers but you and God when writing stories all the rest of my life" [Selected Letters, ed. Carlos Baker, p. 103).

The wrapper advertises in our time, yet this was not to be published for almost a year. In this, "My Old Man" and "Out of Season" were reprinted. In later years, Hemingway complained that due to the small print run and high demand for this first book, he wished he had kept 𝔉a copy for himself.

REFERENCE:

Grissom A.1; Hanneman A1a

PROVENANCE:

Joan Whitney (bookplate; her sale, William Doyle Galleries, 17 May 1984, lot 193) — Roger Rechler (his sale, Chriဣstie's New York, 11 October 2002, lot 146)