A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Clarence, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
The book is in very good minus condition. Minor wear and staining to the black cloth boards. Gilt title labels on spine and front board are bright and well preserved. Spine is sun-faded. Foxing to front endsheets only.
Early in 1918, Ernest Hemingway joined the Italian Red Cross and served as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. During his time abroad, Hemingway had two experiences that affected him profoundly and that would later inspire one of his most celebrated novels, A Farewell to Arms. The first occurred on July 8, 1918, when a trench mortar shell struck him while he crouched beyond the front lines with three Italian soldiers. Though Hemingway embellished the story over the years, it is certain that he was transferred to a hospital in Milan, where he fell in love with a Red Cross nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky. Scholars are divided over Agnes' role in Hemingway's life and writing, but there is little doubt that his relationship with her informed the relationship between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms. What unfolds is a story filled with romance intertwined with moments of bravery, danger, love, and loss.
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Inventory #(M3-30).
Synopsis
Set during World War 1, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms is the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army, and his love affair with an English nurse named Catherine Barkley. The novel is semi-autobiographical, based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the war. While some assume the title of the work to be taken from a poem by 16th century English dramatist George Peele, others believe it to be a simple pun of the word “arms.” A Farewell to Arms was first serialized in the May-October issues Scribner's Magazine 1929. It was published in book form in September of that year. As the work became available to the public just over ten years after the November 1918 armistice, Hemingway assumed his audience would recognize many of the references. In fact, certain basic information isn't alluded to in the book at all, as it was common knowledge around the time of publication. The result of this immediacy? Arguably one of the best novels written about World War I… ever. A Farewell to Arms was Hemingway's first bestseller, affording him financial independence and cementing his stature as a modern American writer. More specifically, the novel and its content helped to established the author as a key member of the “Lost Generation,” a subset of Modernist artists namely defined by their post-war disillusionment. A Farewell to Arms is ranked 74th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century.
Reviews
It has a good plot, but its boring.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ernestoic Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 3660
- Title
- A Farewell to Arms
- Author
- Ernest Hemingway
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, Fifth Printing
- Publisher
- Charles Scribner's Sons
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1929
- Keywords
- Hemingway farewell to arms first edition
Terms of Sale
Ernestoic Books
About the Seller
Ernestoic Books
About Ernestoic Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
- Facsimile
- An exact copy of an original work. In books, it refers to a copy or reproduction, as accurate as possible, of an original...
- 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....
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...