HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. Three Stories & Ten Poems. [Paris: Contact Publishing Co. 1923]. 12mo, original gray-blue printed wrappers, uncut, very faint stains on front cover, top of spine a trifle chipped, slightly wrinkled, blue cloth slipcase. FIRST EDITION OF HEMINGWAY'S FIRST BOOK, one of 300 copies printed, containing "Up in Michigan," "Out of Season," and "My Old Man," plus the ten poems. Hanneman Ala. Laid in: Autograph note signed ("E. Hemingway") on verso of his engraved calling card ("Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Miller Hemingway") to the New York Herald Tribune book reviewer and critic "Burton Rascoe Esq. N.Y., " n.p., n.d. [Paris, c. 1924-25?], an oblong, 52 x 85mm. (2 1/4 x 3 3/8in.), Hemingway writes: "Dear Rascoe -- This will introduce a friend of mine from Paris, [the writer] Nathan Asch who is going to N.Y. with a great book in his baggage [The Office, published in 1925]. You probably have seen his stuff in the Transatlantic [Review] and Der Querschnitt [periodicals to which Hemingway also contributed]. I hope your liquor went through smoothly and that you come back for more..." Rascoe was the journalist who had first brought Hemingway's work to the attention of Edmund Wilson, which resulted in his first critical recognition. Rascoe and his wife visited Paris in late 1924 and were introduced to Hemingway, "who gratefully shook his hand" (Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: a Life Story, New York, 1980, p. 176-77). (2)