Hemingway, Ernest.

The Old Man and the Sea. Advance Galley Proofs- Life Magazine Publication.

Chicago. Life Magazine. August 1952. 17 unbound Galley Proof Sheets. Galley Proofs are imprinted in black ink upon 9.0" x 30.0" sheets. A stamp in blue ink stating "ADVANCE GALLEY PROOFS" appears at top of title sheet. Further blue stamp stating "Advance Galley Proofs For Your Personal Reading Only LIFE Publication Date, Sept.1". Accompanying letter is typed upon Life advertising department letterhead sheet (7.0" x 11.0") and is dated August 19, 1952. Signed in ink by C.W. Hanson.



Original advance Galley Proofs prepared by Life Magazine for its special publication of the novel in its September 1, 1952 issue. The Life publication was the 1st appearance of Hemingway's novel, preceding the Scribners book publication of September 8, 1952. The September 1 issue of Life was solely devoted to the novel, which was accompanied by photographs by Alfred Eisenstadt. The issue sold in excess of five million copies. A letter from Life Magazine Chicago Advertising Manager, C.W. Hanson, to an unidentified recipient accompanies these proofs and explains in detail the Magazine's motivation for publication of Hemingway's work. e.g. "Our editors were so impressed with this newest bit of Hemingway- actually, they think its "one of the greatest stories of our time"- that they have decided to publish all 30,000 words of it in the September 1st issue of LIFE." ... "Here's a galley proof of The Old Man of the Sea so that you can come on the story with the same sense of discovery of interest and greatness that the editors recognize. I hope you enjoy it." The letter contains further interesting comments.

Due to the nature and quality of paper in galley production, these tri-folded sheets are extremely brittle and present chipping to top and side edges- not intruding upon text. Several short starts at folds may be seen. The title page sheet has severely split at both folds and has been reattached with adhesive tape- not affecting title text. This same condition is more dramatically evidenced on the final sheet with a hole intruding upon the middle of 4 lines of text.

Item #8678