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The Old Man and the Sea
by Hemingway, Ernest
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
First UK edition, first impression in first state dust jacket without reviews to verso. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the last of the author's novels to be published in his lifetime.
Original blue cloth with dark red lettering to spine and upper board. A near fine book with the slightest hint of fading to spine. Beautifully clean and bright internally with no previous owner names or inscriptions.
The original and unclipped dust jacket - featuring striking artwork by Hans Tisdall - has some chipping to corners and spine tips with some rubbing and the usual sunning to spine panel. A lovely example.
Synopsis
This novella, only 140 pages, was first printed in its entirety in Life Magazine on September 1, 1952. It inspired a buying frenzy - selling over five million copies of the magazine in just two days! The story about an aging Cuban fisherman wrangling a large marlin in the gulf stream was written in 1951 in Cuba and published in 1952. In 1953, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and led to Hemingway's nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Man's struggle against nature is the resounding theme throughout the book as Hemingway portrays Santiago's travails as an experienced fisherman facing a dry-spell of 85 days before finally wrangling a prized marlin. Hemingway also highlights the indomitable spirit of man while illustrating his ideal of manliness and character in the strong and determined fisherman facing danger and discomfort without complaint and with resolution, both in the days it takes Santiago to kill the marlin, and as he fights off the sharks that end up destroying his prized catch before he reaches the coast. Some say that Hemingway's tale is a reflection of his own determination to prove his writing career was not over, and the portrayal of the sharks may echo the critics who had been claiming for the ten years that his writing career, after the successful release of For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940, was over. The book is dedicated "To Charlie Scribner And To Max Perkins," friends of Hemingway's that had passed away before the book came out. Max Perkins, who also edited F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, died in 1947 and Scribner, who was president of the publisher Charles Scribner's Sons, died in 1952.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Old Man and the Sea
Reviews
On Mar 6 2014, a reader said:
The Old Man and The Sea is an excellent novella for someone to read looking to get away from the troubles of life only to find that some troubles lead to the greatest reward of even though the reward is only a small amount.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1476183139345
- Title
- The Old Man and the Sea
- Author
- Hemingway, Ernest
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Jonathan Cape
- Date Published
- 1952
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Old Man and the Sea, First, Hemingway
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern First Editions; American Literature; Ernest Hemingway;
Terms of Sale
Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
Biblio member since 2015
Chelmsford, Essex
About Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
We are an online book store specialising in modern first editions and are a full member of the ABA, ILAB and PBFA. Visit our website at www.finebookcellar.com.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
- Bindings & Editions Modern First Editions
- Fiction & Literature Action & Adventure
- Fiction & Literature Fiction by Region American Fiction
- Fiction & Literature Classic Literature
- Fiction & Literature Individual Authors Ernest Hemingway
- Fiction & Literature Literary Studies Literary Criticism
- Fiction & Literature Modern Fiction
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