[HEMINGWAY, Ernest (1899-1961)]. MAUGHAM, William Somerset (1874-1965). Six Short Stories Written in the First Person Singular. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931.
8vo. (Spotting throughout.) Original blue cloth gilt (spine lightly sunned, front joint a bit skewed). Provenance: Bennett Schneider Book Seller, Kansas City (booksellers ticket); Ruth White Lowry (1884-1974), Hemingway's cousin and Kansas City native (recipient of Hemingway's inscription).
FIRST EDITION. INSCRIBED BY HEMINGWAY TO HIS COUSIN, RUTH LOWRY: "To Ruth, sa cuisine, Ernest."
Hemingway and Pauline returned to Kansas City in 1931 to give birth to their second son, Gregory Hancock. The Hemingways lived first with Ernest's cousin Ruth Lowry before moving into the Riviera Apartments when Pauline's delivery nears. It was during this November stay when Hemingway completed Death in the Afternoon. Hemingway was known to have frequented Bennett Schneider's bookshop in Kansas City, where he presumably acquired this book for his cousin and wrote the inscription in "her kitchen." Stott A42b.
Property from a Private St. Louis Collection