Description:

ERNEST HEMINGWAY
(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. Superb typed D.S. 3pp. 4to., [Key West], Jan. 4, 1938, a contract in letter form between Hemingway and his uncle Gustavus A. Pfeiffer, in which Pfeiffer adds to a trust fund he created to insureHemingway's 13-year-old son "Bumby"'s future education. In part: "...Pursuant to the right reserved to me under the terms of Paragraph IV of the Trust Agreement [copy included], made the 17th day of November, 1936, of which you are the Trustee, to deliver additional securities to become a part of the Trust Estate thereunder, I, as Donor, am delivering herewith to you, as Trustee, Certificate No. B424, for twenty-three (23) shares of William R. Warner & Company, Inc., Second Preferred Stock, having a par value of $100 per share to be held by you under the same trusts and in all respects to be considered as and which shall be a part of the said trust estate...". Notarized statements on the two following pages indicate that Pfeiffer signed the document on Jan. 4, 1838. Hemingway was in Spain at that time and did not return until Jan. 27, co-signing document in Key West the following day. After his short story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was published in August 1936, Hemingway turned his attention to Spain. The Spanish Civil War had begun on July 17, 1936. As an ambulance driver during World War II, Hemingway was well-acquainted with this perils of war, particularly as he himself was hit by mortar fire in July, 1918. He thus decided to go to Spain to cover the war and, on Jan. 10, 1937, was named chairman of the a committee formed to send an ambulance corps to Spain. On Feb. 27, 1937 Hemingway sailed from New York on his way to Spain as a newspaper correspondent for The North American Newspaper Alliance to report on the Spanish government's side of the the war. His first report was written from the Guadalajara front, on March 23. Hemingway's son Jack Hadley Hemingway, known as Bumby, was only 13 when his father decided to go Spain. Hemingway had divorced Bumby's mother Elizabeth Hadley Richardson in April, 1927 and had married Pauline Pfeiffer a month later. In 1931, Pauline's uncle Gustavus Pfeiffer of Pfeiffer Pharmaceuticals bought a house for the Hemingways in Key West, Florida. Hemingway ostensibly was worried about Bumby's future should something happen to him while in Spain, and accordingly set up the trust. With a copy of the 14pp. trust, boldly signed and very good condition.

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January 21, 2010 10:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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