Need help: unidentified "Old Man and the Sea"

I have searched the Internet, reviewed related postings on this
newsgroup, and referred to my copies of Audre Hanneman's authoritative
bibliography of Hemingway's books, ans still can not identify my copy
of OMATS. I hope that Jon Meyers, who has contributed on firsts of this
book, and others of you who collect Hemingway can help.
My copy meets all of Hanneman's points except as noted below: light
blue boards; signature blind stamped on front board; silver lettering
on backstrip; follows all of her collation points; dust jacket colors
for front appropriate and blue ink on photo on rear cover; no mention
of Nobel prize on back flap; Scribner's device on copyright page;
jacket design by "A.".
What is missing from her description: no "A" on copyright page (but
neither is there a "W" for book club or any other letter); jacket is
price-clipped so no help there; no lines of production symbols at end
of text on back jacket flap; all three page ends are trimmed.

At first I thought this was a book club edition, but there is no BMOC
trademark on front flap as required nor is there the "Kingsport Press"
device which is also required of the book club edition. Neither is
there a book club blind stamp on the back board. This is also not one
of the special "student" or "college" editions which were printed and
which Hanneman describes.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Les

Readinit wrote:
I have searched the Internet, reviewed related postings on this
newsgroup, and referred to my copies of Audre Hanneman's authoritative
bibliography of Hemingway's books, ans still can not identify my copy
of OMATS. I hope that Jon Meyers, who has contributed on firsts of this
book, and others of you who collect Hemingway can help.
My copy meets all of Hanneman's points except as noted below: light
blue boards; signature blind stamped on front board; silver lettering
on backstrip; follows all of her collation points; dust jacket colors
for front appropriate and blue ink on photo on rear cover; no mention
of Nobel prize on back flap; Scribner's device on copyright page;
jacket design by "A.".
What is missing from her description: no "A" on copyright page (but
neither is there a "W" for book club or any other letter); jacket is
price-clipped so no help there; no lines of production symbols at end
of text on back jacket flap; all three page ends are trimmed.

At first I thought this was a book club edition, but there is no BMOC
trademark on front flap as required nor is there the "Kingsport Press"
device which is also required of the book club edition. Neither is
there a book club blind stamp on the back board. This is also not one
of the special "student" or "college" editions which were printed and
which Hanneman describes.


This book went through so many later printings and so many other
versions, it's not surprising that there are anomolous copies like yours
that are difficult to nail down. The book-club indicators you cite, for
one thing, only apply to early printings of the BOMC edition. Later
printings, and versions from book-clubs other than BOMC (yes, there are
such animals), might come in many variations.

Looking back at some of those old threads you mentioned, it looks as
though, in general, book-club editions do not have the Scribner seal on
the copyright page, whatever else is on that page. So I'm going to
guess--and this is only a guess--that you have a later Scribner printing
of one kind or another; but without more information, I couldn't even
guess when and under what circumstances it was issued.


(Wow, I sure used a lot of words to say "I don't know", didn't I? But
you summoned me by name, so I couldn't very well ignore your question.
Sorry I wasn't more helpful.)

--Jon Meyers

Jon,
Thanks for your response. It's "mysteries" like this that make book
collecting interesting and challenging. Maybe someone else reading this
thread will have a copy similar to mine and have some addtional
information. If I learn anything new I'll post it here in case it's
useful to others in the future.
One other thought I did have after submitting my first posting: I'm
wondering of Scribner's was issuing any "advance reader's copies" of
any of their novels at that time. I ask this as a way addressing the
existance of their seal on the copyright page, minus any letter
indicating a first printing. Just a thought.
Les

Jon Meyers wrote:
Readinit wrote:
I have searched the Internet, reviewed related postings on this
newsgroup, and referred to my copies of Audre Hanneman's authoritative
bibliography of Hemingway's books, ans still can not identify my copy
of OMATS. I hope that Jon Meyers, who has contributed on firsts of this
book, and others of you who collect Hemingway can help.
My copy meets all of Hanneman's points except as noted below: light
blue boards; signature blind stamped on front board; silver lettering
on backstrip; follows all of her collation points; dust jacket colors
for front appropriate and blue ink on photo on rear cover; no mention
of Nobel prize on back flap; Scribner's device on copyright page;
jacket design by "A.".
What is missing from her description: no "A" on copyright page (but
neither is there a "W" for book club or any other letter); jacket is
price-clipped so no help there; no lines of production symbols at end
of text on back jacket flap; all three page ends are trimmed.

At first I thought this was a book club edition, but there is no BMOC
trademark on front flap as required nor is there the "Kingsport Press"
device which is also required of the book club edition. Neither is
there a book club blind stamp on the back board. This is also not one
of the special "student" or "college" editions which were printed and
which Hanneman describes.


This book went through so many later printings and so many other
versions, it's not surprising that there are anomolous copies like yours
that are difficult to nail down. The book-club indicators you cite, for
one thing, only apply to early printings of the BOMC edition. Later
printings, and versions from book-clubs other than BOMC (yes, there are
such animals), might come in many variations.

Looking back at some of those old threads you mentioned, it looks as
though, in general, book-club editions do not have the Scribner seal on
the copyright page, whatever else is on that page. So I'm going to
guess--and this is only a guess--that you have a later Scribner printing
of one kind or another; but without more information, I couldn't even
guess when and under what circumstances it was issued.


(Wow, I sure used a lot of words to say "I don't know", didn't I? But
you summoned me by name, so I couldn't very well ignore your question.
Sorry I wasn't more helpful.)

--Jon Meyers