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Ernest Hemingway ALS

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Ernest Hemingway ALS
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Ernest Hemingway autograph letter signed, dated 4 April 1954 ''0600'' hours on ''Gritti Palace-Hotel'' stationery, in Venice, Italy, where Hemingway was recovering after a plane crash. Letter is addressed to Kit Figgis in the aftermath of the famous January 1954 Ugandan safari plane crash, in which Ernest and Mary Hemingway were injured. Katherine ''Kit'' and Larry Figgis became friends with the Hemingways' at that time. Letter discusses a formal club Hemingway had been frequenting in Venice, as well as his homesickness for Africa. Reads in part: ''…Have gotten very conservative and go to the Club. Dukes are just permitted. It is under the clock tower on the left side of the Piazza on the 2nd and 3rd floors. It is the nicest club I know and old members call it the Pig Sty. You have to wait about 50 years to get in but I got in young on acct my military and religious merit. Some non-members doubt my religious merit. Very old members hint darkly that if the truth were ever known Ernest would be a saint as his ancestor was…I Get awfully homesick for Emaili…area. Maybe next time can get you and Larry out there. Keep the spears oiled and soaked, the pig hide scabbards in cod liver oil. But am still awfully homesick. But the spears help some…'' He also reminisces about Wyoming and people he knew there: ''…I was a sort of a bad boy…and would go to the Crow Reservation and trade eagle tails (they make the real war bonnets from them) for a young squaw and a couple of ponies…'' Hemingway completes the last three lines of the letter in a lighter blue ink and signs the document ''Best love / Papa.'' Letter runs 3pp. and measures 6.5'' x 9.75'' on three single-sided pages, ideal for framing. Minor toning and folds throughout. Very good condition.