Ernest M. Hemingway (1899-1961)
Typed Letter Signed

"...Can still remember how I felt coming up to that MP character with the turkey in one hand and Madame Chevalier's life savings buttoned inside my shirt..."


Ernest M. Hemingway (1899-1961). American Author and Nobel Laureate (1954). Typed Letter Signed, "Ernest", one page, quarto, on "FINCA VIGIA, SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, CUBA" letterhead, d. May 27, 1953. A fine content letter to Charles Madary, Eisenhower's press officer during World War II. Hemingway, who participated in the Normandy invasion, served as a war correspondent, where he established a working relationship with Madary that would last through the post-war years. For his part, Madary kept an eye on Hemingway as he wandered through the war-ravaged countryside of Europe, attempting to keep him out of harm's way and trouble. From time to time Madary would have to apprehend Hemingway, who insisted on carrying an illegal sidearm. Madary would confiscate the gun and send Hemingway on his way. This letter refers to an episode in France in which Hemingway illegally hunted turkey for Thanksgiving, while smuggling. He also refers to signing a book, presumably the Pulitzer Prize winning (1952) The Old Man and the Sea. The letter reads:

"Dear Charlie:
Mary and I have been checking over our correspondence preparatory to shoving off for Europe and Africa and she found in here your letter to me of Nov. 7 1952 which I had passed on to her to read before answering.

I can't find any record of the book being received and I have signed and returned all that were sent. But somebody might have pinched it. If you never received it will you let me know and I will get one and sign it and fire it off to you.

I often remember what a square and fine guy you were with us and also that fine trip. Can still remember how I felt coming up to that MP character with the turkey in one hand and Madame Chevalier's life savings buttoned inside my shirt. Am going to take Mary down to the Mount and maybe we can get a chance to shoot another turkey under less hazardous circumstances.

Mary send her love. I've noted your address and we will try to see you some time in shooting season if we would not be a bother.

Take good care of yourself. I think of you often and always with affection.
Ernest".

In a groundbreaking literary style that was spare and compressed, Hemingway often wrote out of his own direct experience, which this letter demonstrates quite well. Fine story telling from one of the great literary figures of twentieth-century America, this letter is in fine condition. $2,950. (#10794)

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