A FAREWELL TO ARMS - INSCRIBED TO MICHAEL MURPHY by Hemingway, Ernest - 1929

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929. First American Edition. First Printing, with the Scribner's seal on copyright page and no legal disclaimer on p.[x]. Octavo (19.5cm); black cloth, with gold title labels on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [x],355,[3]pp. Inscribed by the author to Hemingway scholar and novelist Michael Murphy on the front endpaper: "To Mike Muphy / good luck / Ernest Hemingway." Faint, semi-circular mark to rear cover, else a fresh, very Near Fine copy. In the first state dustjacket, unclipped (priced $2.50), with some light rubbing and a handful of tiny tears; very Near Fine. Folded and laid into this copy is a short, typed letter of provenance, signed by Michael Murphy: "This copy of A Farewell To Arms was signed for me by Hemingway in 1957 at his home outside Havana. Michael Murphy." Housed in a bespoke half-morocco slipcase and chemise, the colors matching the blue and orange on the dustjacket. Hemingway's third novel, recounting a love affair between an American expatriate and an English nurse, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. This copy inscribed to Hemingway scholar and biographer Michael Murphy, author of Hemingway: The Best of What He Had (1974), Hemingway: A 75th Anniversary Tribute (1974, with Vincent Starrett), and Murphy on Hemingway (1978). Murphy is best known for his 1977 novel Hemingsteen: A Novel Based on the Life of Ernest Hemingway. "In a one-page introduction to Hemingsteen, Murphy explains that the "idea for this book originated with Hemingway in his statement about the Oak Park novel," which would have been explicitly autobiographical and, perhaps ironically, for that reason was never written...Murphy's novel seeks to do what much fan fiction does: fill in the gaps. Where hints or innuendos are suggested or where unresolved conundrums or mysteries linger, the writer of fan fiction steps in" (McFarland, Ron. Appropriating Hemingway: Using Him as a Fictional Character, p.32). An attractive association copy of Hemingway's first best-seller. Hanneman 8a; Connolly 100.