Written in Cuba in 1951, this short novel was originally intended to be part of a larger work with the sea as a common thread. However, under growing fiscal duress, Hemingway honed in on the 26,531 words that constituted "Book IV" of the larger work, telling Scribner in a letter: "This is the prose that I have been working for all my life that should read easily and simply and seem short and yet have all the dimensions of the visible world and the world of a man's spirit." Hemingway concludes by saying that "it is as good prose as I can write as of now." Widely regarded as the pinnacle of Hemingway's minimalist narrative style, The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and was instrumental in Hemingway's Nobel Prize, which he received in 1954. It was also the last major work that Hemingway produced in his lifetime. Publisher's blue cloth shows light sunning to spine with a touch of wear to spine end and some soiling to boards. In the first issue pictorial dust wrapper, clipped with slight toning to the spine and back panel, several spots of rubbing along outer spine, and minimal discoloration to verso. A previous owner's inscription on the front flyleaf declares, "This is a very, very bad book, and I don't mean 'naughty.'"