For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway, in its First Edition Library (FEL) facsimile release, is a meticulously reproduced version of the original Scribner’s first edition, preserving every detail of the landmark 1940 publication. This facsimile series, designed for collectors, replicates the dust jacket, typography, and physical dimensions of Hemingway’s brutal, lyrical novel about an American dynamiter (Robert Jordan) fighting with Spanish Loyalist guerrillas during the Civil War.
The First Edition Library version (issued in the 1990s) includes:
- A slipcase matching the original Scribner’s olive-green cloth boards.
- The controversial first-edition text, with its infamous “obscenities” later altered by Scribner’s.
- Historical notes on Hemingway’s wartime experiences that inspired the novel.
A collector’s essential, though purists still chase the true 1940 first.
