LOT RR Auction  /  RR Auction Quality Autograph Auction 372  / 

482

Ernest Hemingway

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Ernest Hemingway

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2011 Jun 15 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Unique archive of 17 items, including one onionskin page manuscript draft, undated (circa summer 1958), 8.5 x 11, written by Ernest Hemingway. Accompanied by six typed carbon copy letters from Mary Hemingway to Cuban lawyer Dr. Mario Lazo, two signed in carbon, "Mary" or "Mary Hemingway”; three typed drafts of Mary Hemingway’s letter to President Batista, with Ernest Hemingway’s edits, most notably the phrase "be a monument" on "First Draft" of August 1, 1958 letter; one typed translation of Mary Hemingway’s letter, docketed at the top right corner, “For Mrs. Hemingway”; four typed responses from Lazo to Mary Hemingway; and two photocopied memos, in Spanish. In overall very good to fine condition with scattered creasing, wrinkling, soiling, staple holes, and rust spots.

The author’s letter features three numbered points, with the third point reading, in part: "This road, if kept as beautiful and unspoiled as it is, will always be a monument to those who built it. It is easy of access due to a prodigious engineering feat, the tunnel, and it gives those who come to the new great hotels a drive as beautiful as any in the world. No man can make the Yumuri Valley but one man can keep the sight of it unspoiled for millions. This is entirely aside from the great utilitarian service of the road of which there is no need to speak. If you keep its beauty from being destroyed I think you will always be proud of your action. I will close this letter and not both you further."

Mary Hemingway was spurred to write to Lazo after she became concerned about the possibility that billboards would ruin the view on a new scenic road on the Via Blanca, a highway in Northern Cuba that connects Havana to Matanzas and was completed in 1961. Hemingway wrote to Lazo in hopes that he could suggest a person or a government department to whom she could write a letter raising her anxieties.

Hemingway’s letters are typed on Finca Vigia (‘Lookout Farm’) stationery, where the Hemingways lived in Cuba. Lazo’s letters are typed on his “Lazo Y Cubas” letterhead. Lazo is not mentioned in biographies on Ernest Hemingway, or in Mary’s autobiography. As revealed by the tone in both Hemingway and Lazo’s letters, they appear to have been fond acquaintances.

Mary Hemingway’s letters reveal her own writing talent. She opens her first letter, dated June 23, 1958, to Lazo recounting a pleasurable experience driving on the new highway. In part: "The other day Ernest and I drove over the wonderful new Via Monumental and then out along the Via Blanca all the way to where the paving ends, about 30 kms. from Matansas. The two roads together provide an unusually beautiful drive, following the sea to Boca de Jeruco then lifting an curving into the hills with a lovely new vista every moment of lush valleys, groves of royal palms, a glimpse of the sea again at Canasi, and inland a long ridge of handsome, rugged hills. The drive gave us a great sense of freedom and beauty."

She closes the letter asking if there is a way to prevent spoiling the view with signboards, and if this is a matter worth pursuing. Lazo responds enthusiastically in a June 25, 1958 letter, agreeing with Hemingway and saying that he will take up the matter with the “proper authorities.”

Hemingway suggests that she do an illustrated story for a US magazine, since the signage problem was prevalent in America as well, but insists that she does not to interfere or receive attention for her efforts. Lazo responds with a long letter and memo detailing signage laws on the Via Blanca, suggesting she make an appeal to the Cuban Chamber of Commerce.

Mary Hemingway wrote to President Fulgencio Batista on August 4, 1958, using as a model a draft written by her husband. Hemingway lifts an entire section of her husband’s draft to use as a closing for her final draft, and employs her husband’s suggestion to use the word “molest” instead of bother in the final line.

Lazo’s letter in response to this informs Hemingway that the President was receptive to her argument. The Cuban Revolution, and Batista's overthrow of weeks before, however, thwarted any attempt at reaching a definitive point in the matter. Lazo’s final letter to Hemingway, dated March 16, 1959, informs, vaguely, “the purpose of this letter is to let you know that we are still very much interested in the billboard matter and feel sure that one of these days we will capture the hill.”

Mary's final letter of April 13, 1959, written in Castro's Cuba, ends: "I'm sorry to be going away from Cuba in these times when so many people have so much hope. Like you, we never take any part in Cuban politics, but always wish the best for the Cuban pueblo.”

An amazing Hemingway family archive of Cuban interest!
Sign In to Bookmark Lot