8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt (sunning to spine, front joint a bit skewed). Provenance: Ruth White Lowry (1884-1974), Hemingway's cousin and Kansas City native (recipient of Hemingway's inscription).

Later edition. INSCRIBED BY HEMINGWAY TO COUSIN, RUTH LOWRY: "Dear Ruth: I think this is a very good book whether about Hardy or about no one at all – the critics all reviewed it as a Roman a clef but it is better book than that. I did not like the last chapter but everyone has to write their own last chapters as you can't look a gift last chapter in the mouth – Ernest."

Hemingway admired Maugham's work and acknowledged being influenced by him during his youth. In 1935, a young Arnold Samuelson traveled to Florida to meet Hemingway and ask him for writing advice. In an article published that same year in Esquire, "Monologue to the Maestro: A High Seas Letter," Hemingway told the aspiring writer that he should only compare himself to the great dead writers, not contemporary ones. He mentioned reading Maugham's novels, such as Of Human Bondage, which he included in a reading list for Samuelson.