The Old Man and the Sea
by Hemingway, Ernest
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952. First Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. First printing of this Pulitzer Prize winner in 1953, Near fine in a very good+ dust jacket. Scribners "A" and colophon on copyright page; light blue cloth with silver lettering on spine and author's signature embossed at lower right of front board. First issue dust jacket, with $3.00 price at top of front flap and brown ink on the two flaps. Neat owner's signature on front board; the rear flap of the jacket and the two blank rear endpapers are toned, probably as a result of something being laid in there. Very slight toning to the page block at the outer edge. The jacket has a few tiny chips at corners and edges, and a one inch closed tear at the top of the rear flap fold. The colors on the front panel of the jacket are vibrant and bright, especially the deep blue of the ocean. A nicer than usual copy of this classic of American literature.
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
- Tulsa Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 024285
- Title
- The Old Man and the Sea
- Author
- Hemingway, Ernest
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Charles Scribner's Sons
- Place of Publication
- NY
- Date Published
- 1952
Terms of Sale
Tulsa Books
Books are shipped promptly upon receipt of payment. Any item may be returned within 10 days of receipt for a full refund of the purchase price. Shipping costs are not refunded unless the item was not as described.
About the Seller
Tulsa Books
Biblio member since 2008
Tulsa, Oklahoma
About Tulsa Books
Internet only bookseller specializing in modern first editions, signed books, western americana, and general interest out of print books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 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....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Flap(s)
- The portion of a book cover or cover jacket that folds into the book from front to back. The flap can contain biographical...
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
- Colophon
- The colophon contains information about a book's publisher, the typesetting, printer, and possibly even includes a printer's...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
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