Hemingway, Ernest | For Whom the Bell Tolls, first edition, presentation copy

Hemingway, Ernest

For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940 

8vo (210 x 140 mm). Inscribed on the front free endpaper, Scribner’s “A” to copyright page; a few stray stains, one or two old folds, very lightly toned. Publisher’s original nubby beige cloth, facsimile signature on upper board, spine stamped in red and black, top stained black; one or two tray spots to cloth, minor rubbing to spine, some faint foxing to endpapers. First issue dust jacket without credit below Hemingway photograph on back panel; a few marginal chips, two longer primarily closed tears to back panel. Black morocco clamshell case. 

First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed: “To A. Vlaste, Yours Truly Ernest Hemingway.” 

“Oh, now, now, now, the only now, and above all now, and there is no other now but thou now and now is thy prophet.” — Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

Written throughout 1939 in the wake of the Spanish civil war, the novel emerged from Hemingway's experiences as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance on the front. The title draws from John Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: "...And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." Hemingway was believed to be a shoo-in for the Pulitzer Prize, but he and the novel were ultimately denied for political reasons. Now, For Whom the Bell Tolls is regarded as one of the “Books that Shaped America” by the Library of Congress (Vernon). 

REVERENCES

Hanneman A18

PROVENANCE

"A. Vlaste" (presentation inscrption to front free endpaper)