HEMINGWAY, Ernest (1899-1961). The Sun Also Rises. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927.
8vo. Original black cloth, printed gold labels on upper cover and spine (light rubbing, light sunning to spine). Provenance: Ruth White Lowry (1884-1974), Hemingway's cousin and Kansas City native (recipient of Hemingway's inscription); William Malcom Lowry (1884-1953), Ruth's husband.
Later printing. INSCRIBED BY HEMINGWAY TO HIS COUSIN, RUTH LOWRY: "To Ruth and Malcom, this little treatise on inconstancy, Ernest Hemingway."
Hemingway's early days as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, where he was introduced to the paper’s famed style guide emphasizing short sentences, vigorous English, and clarity, are reflected in The Sun Also Rises. These principles became the foundation of his “iceberg theory” of writing—where deeper meaning lies beneath a simple surface—and are evident in the spare, direct prose of The Sun Also Rises. One famous example is the line: “You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
Hemingway’s reference in the inscription to the work as a "treatise on inconstancy" gets to the heart of The Sun Also Rises, both in its characters and emotional landscape. Hemingway explores shifting affections, unstable identities, and the transience of postwar life through characters like Brett Ashley, whose romantic attachments drift, and Jake Barnes, whose inner steadiness contrasts the chaos around him. The novel captures the restlessness of the Lost Generation, where relationships, purpose, and even locations feel in constant flux—underscoring a deep yearning for meaning in an unmoored world.
Property from a Private St. Louis Collection
