Across the River and Into the Trees

London: Jonathan Cape, 1950. Reflections on a Life

HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Across the River and Into the Trees. London: Jonathan Cape, [1950].

First English edition, First Printing.

Octavo (7 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches; 191 x 124 mm.). [1]-254 pp.

Publisher's green cloth, front cover with decoration in red, spine lettered in red and silver. First issue pictorial dust jacket with "9s 6d. net" printed on lower front flap. Minimal rubbing to extremities of dust jacket. An excellent example.

The UK edition preceded the the US edition by four days.

"Across the River and Into the Trees first appeared in Cosmopolitan, CXXVIII (Feb. 1950 - June 1950). Numerous changes, additions, and omissions were made prior to book publication. For example: "Conte Carlo" was changed to "Count Andrea"; the passages regarding "the Honorable Pacciardi," on pp. 39-41, were added; the passages regarding d'Annunzio, on pp. 49-51, were added; the whole of Ch. XXXVII was added; the deletions were filled in; etc...

Across the River and Into the Trees appeared on the N.Y. Times Book Review's Best Seller List from September 24, 1950 to February 11, 1951. During the twenty-one weeks that it appeared, it was in first place for seven weeks, from October 15 to November 26, 1950. Twenty-five "advance copies," issued in blue cloth, were printed from discarded plates after the first edition was run off... These "advance copies" contain the following errors: On p.21, line 26, "Papadopohi" should read "Papadopoli". On p. 24, line 5, there should be a period after "got" and "o" made a capital in "One". On p. 80, line 21, the second "how" should be omitted." (Hanneman, pp. 61-62).

Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961). Across the River and Into the Trees was his last novel and tells the story of American Colonel Richard Cantwell during the last day of his life as he recalls his experiences in war and love as a younger man in Venice. Hemingway took the title of this novel from the last words of General Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson, quoted on page 307: "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." Like much of his writing, this novel is highly autobiographical. Also in typical Hemingway fashion, Across the River utilizes the Iceberg Theory, in which the true essence of the story is not expressly said in the plot but rather is meant to be inferred.

Hanneman 23A.