One of only 170 first edition copies of Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time will feature in Heritage Auctions' April 2 Rare Books Signature Auction in New York.
 The original manuscripts for the book were lost when Hemingway's suitcase was stolen at Paris' Gare de Lyon, and he was forced to rewrite them all |
Estimated at $25,000, the book is a rare Paris edition of Hemingway's collection of short stories, many of which were written in the French capital in the midst of the "Lost Generation".
Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, moved to Paris in 1921, meeting luminaries such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce while there.
Poet Ezra Pound had been employed as an editor for American journalist Bill Bird's printing company Three Mountains Press, which became renowned for its associations with the modernist writers of the time.
Hemingway's In Our Time was edited by Pound and published in 1924, with this Parisian edition consisting of just 32 pages - one of only 170 hand-numbered editions ever made.
The work would continue to grow, with Hemingway making numerous editions before the New York edition was printed by Boni & Liveright in 1925.
The example at auction is numbered 104 of 170 and, aside from some toning and wear as well as a contemporary owner's signature on the front free endpaper, is a very good copy.
A first edition copy of Hemingway's Three Stories & Ten Poems, his very first publication, realised $81,250 at Heritage Auctions in 2012.
Later this month, a revealing letter written by Hemingway to Marlene Dietrich comes to auction from the collection of Dietrich's grandchildren.
Paul Fraser Collectibles has a selection of rare books & manuscripts for sale.
