📚 The Old Man and the Sea — Ernest Hemingway

UK First Edition, Jonathan Cape (1952)

FINE Copy — Flawless Dust Jacket — Bright, Clean, Square

Offered here is a FINE, collector-grade UK First Edition of Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novella The Old Man and the Sea, published by Jonathan Cape in 1952.

This is an exceptional example, rarely seen in this condition.
The dust jacket is flawless, with no tears, chips, stains or creasing; only price-clipped, as is typical for Cape copies of the period. Colour remains fresh and unfaded.

The boards are bright, sharp and clean, with no rubbing and no bumping to extremities.
Internally, pages are crisp, clean and bright, with no foxing, no inscriptions, and the binding remains perfectly square and tight.

A genuinely superior copy — the kind sought by serious Hemingway collectors and increasingly scarce in this condition.

Scans are of the actual book for sale and form part of the description.

Market Justification

• UK First Editions in jacketed, VG+ condition typically command £350–£600.

• Fine copies with exceptional jackets trade in the £750–£1,200+ range with major dealers (equivalent A$1,450–A$2,350).

• Copies with flawless jackets are highly scarce, with top-tier examples from ABA/ILAB dealers often exceeding £1,200–£1,500.

• Cape printings remain notably undervalued compared to the U.S. Scribner firsts, giving collectors strong long-term upside.

• Ernest Hemingway – First Edition (UK)

• Jonathan Cape, 1952

• Pulitzer Prize winner

• Original Dust Jacket (flawless, price-clipped)

• FINE condition

• Bright, clean boards

• No toning, no foxing, no inscriptions

• Square, tight binding

• True modern literature collectible

• Investment-grade copy