HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon.
New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932. First edition, first printing, with the Scribner’s “A” and publisher’s seal to the copyright page.
Large octavo. Finely bound in full burgundy-red morocco, the upper board blocked in gilt with a Spanish fighting bull, the spine richly decorated and lettered in gilt within raised bands, gilt fillet borders to the boards, hand-sewn silk headbands, hand-marbled endpapers and all edges gilt. With a colour frontispiece after Juan Gris, retaining the original captioned tissue guard, bull vignette to the title page, and extensive photographic illustrations throughout.
Hemingway’s first book-length work of non-fiction, Death in the Afternoon is his sustained examination of Spanish bullfighting: its ritual, technique, danger, terminology and central confrontation with mortality. Published six years after The Sun Also Rises, in which the fiesta of San Fermín and the bullring already play a defining part, the book returns to Spain with a more deliberate purpose, attempting to explain both the practice of the corrida and its importance to Hemingway as a writer.
The book is far more than a sporting manual. Hemingway uses the bullfight as a means of considering courage, fear, grace under pressure, artistic discipline and the representation of violent death. It is also here that he gives his celebrated statement of the “iceberg” principle of writing, explaining that the dignity of a story may depend upon what the writer understands fully but chooses to leave beneath the surface.
The original first edition is exceptionally well suited to this bespoke binding. The deep red morocco recalls the colour and drama of the bullring, while the gilt bull on the upper board gives the volume an immediate pictorial presence. The elaborately gilt spine, marbled endpapers and gilt edges transform Hemingway’s Spanish classic into a striking collector’s copy, while preserving the colour frontispiece and photographic record integral to the original publication.
Condition: Finely bound in modern full burgundy-red morocco, with the gilt decoration bright and the binding presenting exceptionally well. The contents are clean and attractive, with light age toning. A handsome and imposing copy of Hemingway’s great work on Spain and the bullfight.
Reference: Hanneman A10a.
A visually arresting copy of one of Hemingway’s most important works of non-fiction, combining the Scribner’s first printing with a binding conceived directly around the imagery, colour and subject of the book.
