one of only thirty pre-publication copies, inscribed and signed to his lawyer, alfred rice: "With much affection / Ernest Hemingway." the only known copy inscribed by hemingway. These copies were for presentation only, created from the first thirty sets of sheets and printed in August 1952, one month before the first edition printing. Only 4 other copies are recorded: the F. B. Adams, Jr. copy (first offered by Sotheby's London 6 November, 2001, lot 254); the H. Bradley Martin copy (see Sotheby's, New York, 30 January 1990, lot 2097); one currently in a private collection (originally listed in House of Books Ltd, 50th Anniversary Catalogue, September 1980); and a copy owned by David Randall, curator of the rare book division of Scribner's (see Christie's East, The Jack E. and Rachel Gindi Collection New York, 20 April 1994 lot 61). All inscribed by Randall, except for his own copy.
Some confusion as to the actual number of copies printed was created by Randall in these inscriptions. In the Adams and Martin copies, inscribed identically on August 7th, the week of its printing, he states it is "One of the first thirty sets of sheets printed, bound untrimmed for Presentation only. The first printing, 50,000 copies, is to be published Sept. 8, 1952." Then, in the House of Books copy, inscribed two years later in 1954, after he had left Scribner's, he wrote: "This is one of the first twenty-five copies off the press . . . all were for presentation--none were ever for sale. Thirteen were kept by Charles Scribner for gifts--the other twelve were given to Ernest Hemingway. The first printing of the published edition was 75,000 copies. David A. Randall (ex-Scribnerite)." It is most probable that the Adams and Martin inscriptions are the more accurate notations as they were written at the time of printing; similarly, Hanneman notes 30 copies (see A24a note).