The Torrents of Spring

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine+. First Printing of the author's first novel, published by Scribner's after Boni and Liveright rejected it. 8vo: [8],143,[1]pp. Publisher's finely woven midnight-green cloth (appearing almost black)f, spine and upper cover lettered in scarlet, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed. Wanting the dust jacket. Better than Near Fine (slight lean, fronrtend papers toned, several marginal stains to text) copy of Hemingway's first novel and second book to be published in America, one of only 1250 copies printed. Provenance: circular blindstamp of Ray McRae to front fly-leaf, small bookseller's ticket of Brentano's, Paris, to lower paste-down. Hanneman A4.A. In this slim volume, Hemingway parodied Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter (1925), and because Anderson was under contract with Boni and Liveright, that publisher chose not to publish the parody. According to the Literary Encyclopedia, The Torrents of Spring was on one level a declaration of literary independence (Anderson had served as something of a mentor to Hemingway), but many scholars also suspect Hemingway wrote the parody to escape from his three-book contract with Boni and Liveright. If that was the case, the plan worked, and Scribner's became Hemingway's publisher for the rest of his life. Still, some reviewers saw the book as a detour in Hemingway's own career, because Torrents of Spring had little in common with the excellent short stories he had published in his first U.S. book, In Our Time. Note: With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.