Ernest Hemingway

Presentation copy of The Sun Also Rises, signed and inscribed to “Howard Rome/ wishing him all good things. / very gratefully / Ernest Hemingway,” the author’s psychiatrist and doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. 

• Ernest Hemingway (American).
• New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1954.
• Octavo.
• Publisher’s orange brown cloth, stamped in gilt to upper cover, spine in black and gilt, with additional dust jacket supplied.

This remarkable and poignant association copy is inscribed to Dr. Howard Rome, Hemingway’s psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Rome supervised Hemingway’s hospitalization from November 1960 to January 1961 and again in May and June 1961, just weeks before Hemingway’s death on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho. Electroconvulsive therapy was administered, yet it proved ineffective in lifting his profound depression. This is likely among the last books Hemingway signed before his death.

Rome became a close confidant to Hemingway, who referred to him as “a wise friend and a good doctor.” Following Hemingway’s death, Rome wrote to Mary Hemingway in July 1961 stating that he believed he had done everything he could. 

Hemingway’s personal struggles hauntingly mirror those of his characters in The Sun Also Rises — the emotional turmoil of the “lost generation” and the resulting self-destructive behavior is only rendered more poignant when considered alongside the author’s increasingly strained mental health. 

The book bears Rome’s bookplate and additional inscriptions document its later journey. Rome gifted the book to his colleague, Bob Wilson, for Wilson’s 50th birthday in 1982. Wilson later inscribed the book to his partner in 1990. 

Dr. Howard Rome (presentation inscription from the author and bookplate) — Bob Wilson (presentation inscription from Dr. Howard Rome and blind library stamp) — Ron Zehel (presentation inscription from Bob Wilson)