For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway, Ernest - 1940

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. First edition. Fine/Fine. A Fine copy in like dust jacket. Jacket with one half-inch tear, otherwise rich, bright, unfaded and free of scuffs or other condition problems that plague the majority of copies. Housed in a custom quarter-leather slipcase with chemise.

Set near Segovia, Spain in 1937, the novel "tells the story of American teacher Robert Jordan, who has joined the anti-fascist Loyalist army. Jordan has been sent to make contact with a guerilla band and demolish a bridge to advance the Loyalist offensive. Unfolding during Jordan's last 72 hours, in which he falls in love with Maria, who has been assaulted by fascist soldiers, and in which he befriends the shrewd but cowardly guerilla leader Pablo and his courageous wife Pilar" (Britannica). Heartbreaking in every way, it is a novel that speaks to the best and worse in human nature and reminds us that despite the grand scope of war, what we fight for hardest are those individuals closest to us. "For Whom the Bell Tolls is a tremendous piece of work. It is the most moving document to date on the Spanish Civil War, and the first major novel of the Second World War" (Contemporary NY Times Book Review). Fine in Fine dust jacket.