Following the death of Fidel Castro of Cuba, comes news of a New York auction of author Ernest Hemingway memorabilia including the blood stained costume of the world's top Spanish matador , Antonio Ordonez , above, and the first aid manual for soldiers the Nobel prize winning writer had during WWll.
The offering includes The Old Man and the Sea , written by Hemingway when he was living in Cuba, engaging in big game fishing .
There is a six-page type-written manuscript, and a letter concerning Hemingway’s piece, Marlin Off the Morro: A Cuban Letter, published in the Autumn edition of Esquire in 1933. It followed the author on a marlin-fishing expedition off the coast of Cuba. The letter is from Hemingway’s editor, asking for him to approve the title and asking after the photos. Pre-auction estimate: $30,000–$50,000.
Expected to attract large bids are X-rays of Hemingway's right foot , taken after he was wounded at the Italian Front during WWl . At the time he was handing out chocolates to Italian soldiers when a mortar buried him in a dugout , shrapnel tearing through his foot and knee . He carried a wounded Italian comrade to a medical centre and was awarded the Croce di Guerra . The episode was reflected in his 1919 novel , Farewell to Arms .
Other items for sale , from the David Meeker Collection , a book dealer and collector , are from the author's early life in America , two being letters when he was a schoolboy , some of which appeared in the book by Nancy W. Sindelar about the people and places which shaped his life and work , a copy bought in an op shop in the North Queensland town of Ingham, which has a large Italian community . Could somebody in Ingham have been related to the man rescued by Hemingway all those years ago ?
The auction will be held on December 7 by Bonham's, in Voices of the 2Oth Century series . There are special signed first editions , a custom leather hunting vest , a 1923 collection of best short stories in which Hemingway's name was misspelled in the dedication .
