"The Old Man and the Sea", by Ernest Hemingway, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952. Exact facsimile edition of the First Printing ("A"), authorized by Mary Hemingway and published by the First Editions Library in 1980.

Points of First Printing of the First Edition: '1952' imprinted on the bottom of the title page. Copyright 1952 by Ernest Hemingway, Letter "A", and Scribner's colophon indicate First printing. Additional copyright renewal 1980 and FEL imprint on the copyright page indicate official facsimile. The pages are printed on cream-color genuine laid paper, only the copies of the first "A" printing were printed on such expensive high quality paper. First state dust jacket [facsimile]

A nice copy of Hemingway's classic man-versus-nature story. 50,000 first printing copies were published on September 8, 1952, 11 days after the full text of Hemingway's novella was published in a twenty page spread in Life Magazine. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1952, and the Nobel Prize for the author in 1954 is one of Hemingway's most beloved and successful story that has been characterized as a fable. It deals with a Cuban fisherman's struggles to land a giant marlin that he has hooked, and reflects Hemingway's concern for life as a struggle of man against nature, including his own nature; seen by many as a late-career return to form. Basis for the John Sturges film with Spencer Tracy.

"Gregorio Fuentes, the Captain of Hemingway's fishing boat, the Pilar. was Hemingway's dear friend and companion for over twenty years - in his recollections of his relationship with Hemingway and the creation of the story: " 'I was with Hemingway when he got the idea for "The Old Man and the Sea",' he recalls. They were motoring along Cuba's north coast when they came across an old man in a skiff fighting a big fish. Sharks had surrounded him, and he was in a fierce battle.

'We stopped and offered to help, but the old man shouted for us to get away,' Fuentes says. 'Later we heard the old man had died, which saddened Papa deeply. I know that is why he wrote the book.' Fuentes was also with Hemingway aboard the Pilar in 1953 when the writer heard over the radio that he had won the Pulitzer Prize for the book." Mr. Fuentes died in Cuba in early 2002 at the age of 104.

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Facsimile (copy) of first state dust jacket with Hemingway's portrait by Lee Samuels [fine cond.]; hard cover, navy-blue cloth with embossed Hemingway's signature; 5.3/4" x 8"; 140 pages, printed on cream-color genuine laid paper; nice clean pages, very good/fine binding and condition. [l5ga]