ERNEST HEMINGWAY
$1,400.00
60483-1
(1899 - 1961) American writer, a Nobel prize winner and author of For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, and other classic novels. A.L.S., "EH", 1p., oblong 4to., Malaga, [Summer, 1959], penned in blue ink on a blank Spanish telegram form to Hemingway's hosts: "730 pm, Dear Negro and Miss Annie: Val and I went out for a walk and will be back between 830 pm (2030) and a little later (very little)...". "Val" was Hemingway's secretary Valerie Denby-Smith, who would go on to marry Hemingway's son, Gregory (Gloria) Hemingway. Hemingway's hosts, "Negro" and "Miss Annie", were the wealthy expatriates Bill and Annie Davis, living in Malaga, Spain at La Consula, their massive estate. Hemingway reportedly referred to Davis as Negro because Davis was, in Hemingway's words, "my little slave" and allowed Hemingway unfettered access to his considerable assets. Hemingway's summer with the Davis family at La Consula would prove his final productive year: while there, he lavishly celebrated his 60th birthday, wrote a preface to a Scribner anthology of his works, and, most importantly, witnessed a now famous "mano a mano" bullfighting duel between legendary matadors Antonio Ordonez and Luis Miguel Dominguin. Antonio's father, Cayetano Ornonez, was featured in Hemingway's acclaimed novel The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway turned the duel between Ordonez and Dominguin into a book, The Dangerous Summer; it would be his last. Stain at middle of telegram, light wrinkling, handsomely presented in cream mat with a portrait and setinto a gilt frame. Very good condition, and an excellent association.