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Unseen Hemingway poems auctioned

There is probably a good reason Ernest Hemingway is known for his novels, short stories and journalism rather than his poetry, and it can be found in a remarkable first edition of his first American book. Clearly, he was not a great poet.

Hemingway scribbled two poems — unpublishable at the time because of their rudeness — in the 1925 first edition of In Our Time for his lifelong friend and drinking buddy Jack Cowles. The volume’s current owner, Mark Hime, said: “We’re not talking T.S. Eliot here.”

The inscribed book shines a light on how Hemingway, who suffered depression throughout his life, was feeling at the time and makes clear his disdain at being edited: he has handwritten all the original words in the short story collection changed by his U.S. publishers. The book is heading to London as one of the most eye-catching attractions of this weekend’s antiquarian book fair at Olympia, where more than 160 booksellers offer the chance to pick up rare editions of everything from the Aeneid to Harry Potter.

Hemingway was obviously delighted at having In Our Time published in America. He wrote: “To Jack Cowles on Valentine’s Day (this has no sexual significance) Ernest Hemingway.” Above the inscription Hemingway has drawn a pierced bleeding heart with an arrow pointing to drops of blood and annotated it: “blood ($2.00 worth).” Mr. Hime, who owns California-based bookseller Biblioctopus, is selling the edition for £75,000. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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