Current Events & Trends | May 13, 2026 | Alex Johnson

Ernest Hemingway: Five Rare Books for Collectors

Potter & Potter

A Matter of Colour (in Tabula, Vol. XXII, No. 3. Oak Park, IL, Publishing Board of the Oak Park)

Highlights of the Ernest Hemingway items in Potter & Potter's Spring Fine Books & Manuscripts auction on May 14 include:

* A Matter of Colour (in Tabula, Vol. XXII, No. 3. Oak Park, IL, Publishing Board of the Oak Park)

First edition of the scarce second published story by Ernest Hemingway. This story, about the fixing of a boxing match, appeared in Hemingway's high school newsletter/magazine. His first published story, Judgement of Manitou, appeared in the same magazine two months before. 

* Bullfighting, Sport & Industry (Sacramento, CA, Meeker Publications, Inc., 1999)
 
One of only four advance uncorrected reader's proofs, with the half-title signed by Derek Walcott, Nadine Gordimer, Annie Proulx, Peter Matthiessen, Olive Reynolds, A. E. Hotchner, Chinua Achebe, Terry Tempest Williams, Kenzaburo Oe, Patrice Hemingway, and Jack Hemingway. The article orignally appeared in Fortune Magazine in 1930.

* In Our Time (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925)

First edition, first printing in the scarce original dust jacket. Only 1,335 copies of this edition were printed. 

Bullfighting, Sport & Industry (Sacramento, CA, Meeker Publications, Inc., 1999)
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Potter & Potter

Bullfighting, Sport & Industry (Sacramento, CA, Meeker Publications, Inc., 1999)

In Our Time (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925)
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Potter & Potter

In Our Time (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1925)

A Moveable Feast (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964)
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Potter & Potter

A Moveable Feast (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964)

In Our Time (New York, Boni & Liveright, 1925)
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Potter & Potter

In Our Time (New York, Boni & Liveright, 1925)

* A Moveable Feast (New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964)

First edition, first printing of this posthumously published memoir inscribed by Hemingway's son Jack "For John Russell with best wishes from "Mr. Bumbie" a true character in their books. Best Always Jack Hemingway Oct 1988". 

* In Our Time (New York, Boni & Liveright, 1925)

First edition, first printing with an original silver gelatin photograph of Hemingway's wife Hadley holding their infant son Jack ('Bumby') tipped in. Also with the penciled initials of Donald Ogden Stewart (1894-1980), a screenwriter (including The Philadelphia Story, 1959), and was the model for 'Bill Gorton' in Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926). 

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