HEMINGWAY MARY WELSH Large archive of her correspondence dra

Sale 2217 - Lot 398

Price Realized: $ 5,280

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

HEMINGWAY, MARY WELSH. Large archive of her correspondence, drafts of her autobiography, and other papers. 8 linear feet in 8 boxes; condition generally sound. Vp, most 1942-76

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Mary Welsh Hemingway (1908-1986) was an American journalist who first gained fame for her work as a World War II correspondent and later as a travel writer. In 1946 she became the fourth wife of Ernest Hemingway, and they remained married until his death in 1961. She published her autobiography, How It Was, in 1976.
This collection documents the whole of Mary Welsh Hemingway's remarkable life and career, particularly her World War II work and the years spent with her notable husband. Most noteworthy is Mary Welsh Hemingway's extensive correspondence file, housed in three folders and five looseleaf binders. It Includes 44 letters addressed jointly to Ernest and Mary Hemingway, 1949-61 and undated, from mutual friends such as Clara Spiegel, Alan Moorehead, Joe Lippincott, and Nita Houk (complaining bitterly about Hemingway's Cuban houseguest Gianfranco Ivancich--"nothing but a damned sponger"--29 November 1949). Particularly noteworthy are 5 letters from Ernest Hemingway's hunting companion Clara Spiegel of Sun Valley, ID, 1957-60. The collection also includes 11 letters addressed directly to Ernest, 1949-58 and undated, from Ellis O. Briggs, Francesca Scapinelli, Peter Hays Buckley, Mary's father Thomas Welsh. and others. A few of these letters bear what appear to be Ernest's dictated draft responses in Mary's hand. For example, a 20 May 1957 letter from an editor of the Chicago Sun-Times asks for recollections of Dr. Hornell Hart, who had babysat for the young Hemingway in the early part of the century. The manuscript response reads in part "Don't rememb spanking by him, but if he did spank any of us, couldn't have been spanked by nicer young man. Please give him E's best if you see him--he has pleasantest recoll of time he spent with us & how thoughtful & kind he was with the children."
Papers of Mary Welsh Hemingway relating to her husband include: Letter from the Clark Grave Vault Company. Acknowledges the registration of "a Clark metal vault furnished for the interment of a member of your family by the McGoldrick Funeral Home, Hailey, Idaho." Columbus, OH, 12 July 1961 Her typed evening-after description of Hemingway's famous 60th birthday party in Malaga, 22 July [1959] Her typed memorandum concerning monthly payments to support stepson Gregory "Gig" Hemingway, 23 October 1961.
This important archive also includes numerous notes, drafts, and proofs relating to the memoir How It Was, and a box of papers relating to the author's father Thomas Welsh, a Minnesota lumberman. A more detailed folder listing of the whole archive is available upon request.