Fiesta [The Sun Also Rises]

30 Bedford Square, London: Jonathan Cape , 1927. Stated at copyright: "First Published in May MMXXVII, Second Impression September MMXXVII". Blue cloth boards, gilt spine titles w/bands, moderate shelf wear, discoloration, some spine sunning. Pages very good with attractive toning; no writing. Dedication page and Book I title page remains uncut at bottom edge. Antiquarian bookstore label inside back cover: "Brentano's, Booksellers & Stationers, 37, Avenue de l'Opera, Paris". Very apropos and intriguing when considering Hemingway and the Lost Generation following WWI were creating and mingling in this very time and place of 1920's Paris. Bind fine; hinges intact. Preserved in facsimile of first edition wrapper; protected in new clear sleeve. Good rare second impression in fine facsimile dust wrapper. Hemingway's great post-World War I novel, first major work and the classic novel of the "lost generation". A vivid exploration of the moral wasteland of Europe in the Twenties, and of the sterility and despair of postwar life. The hero, Jake Barnes, has suffered a war injury leaving him impotent. Hopelessly in love with the seductive and flamboyant Lady Brett Ashley, Jake leaves Paris to accompany Brett, her drunken fiancé, and an American boxer to Pamplona, watching as she falls for a young bullfighter. The expatriate crowd that Hemingway portrays so vividly passes their lives in an aimless alcoholic haze, against which the local fiestas and the running of the bulls seem, by contrast, full of vitality--a quality that is alien to them. The settings are romantic - the bull ring, the Paris streets, the bars, cafés and hotels - but Hemingway invests them all with a disillusion that undercuts the glamour of expatriate life. Printed in Guernsey C. I., by the Star & Gazette Co., Ltd. 286 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.