Description
The Fifth Column and The First Forty-Nine (49) Stories by Ernest Hemingway. FIRST UK edition. London: Jonathan Cape, 1939. Original pale tan cloth with redcoloured topedge. No dustjacket (hardcover). 590 pp. Cloth and edges are slightly worn and moderately soiled and edges have a few spots of foxing, inner cover with minor soiling too, else a clean copy. Overall a good solid copy
First UK edition. The term ‘The Fifth Column’ originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War. As his army approached Madrid, a message was broadcast that the four columns of his forces outside the city would be supported by a “fifth column” of his supporters inside the city, intent on undermining the Republican government from within. Hemingway used the term for his only play, written inside Madrid while the city was being bombarded. In fact, this supposed “fifth column” did not prove very effective and Madrid held out until 1939 despite very heavy fighting. Nevertheless, the term caught on and was used extensively, especially by those fighting the Fascists and Nazis /
