Where can I purchase Hemingway
photos?
eBay
is a great place to pick up rare Hemingway items including photos. You should check in regularly to eBay because new Hemingway merchandise is being added daily. Purchasing products at eBay
requires a FREE registration.
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What does an authentic Hemingway
autograph look like and how can I determine its authenticity?
Determining the authenticity of a Hemingway autograph is difficult because of the vast number
of forgeries in existence. However, there are some resources that can be of help. Start by viewing a scan
of Hemingway's Last Will and Testament. Since this document was obtained from the official court records, we can be 99.9% certain that the signature that appears
is Hemingway's authentic signature. The next step is to read The Collectible Ernest Hemingway
by James Lowe for additional information.
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How does Hemingway size up in today's auction market?
One need only to look at the May 19, 2000 Christie's auction ("Printed Books and Manuscripts
including Americana and Recently Discovered Manuscripts by Ernest Hemingway") to answer this question. 17 lots of rare Hemingway material amassed almost $571,000.
Items included first drafts, galley proofs, letters, and manuscript portions. An autographed handwritten draft of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" sold for $248,000. According to Alane Salierno Mason, a senior editor at
W. W. Norton & Company, "the 'Macomber' manuscript fetched the highest price ever attained in a sale of an American short story, and one of the highest for any American literary manuscript."
Typically, autographed first edition Hemingway books can fetch thousands of dollars. What increases value is any detail unique to the work. Take a first edition of Hemingway's 1940 classic For Whom the Bell Tolls, for example, which was marked with the following inscription in the author's hand: "For Martha Belle and Hall with love from Ernest." The first name of Hemingway's third wife was Martha. During his lifetime, Hemingway corresponded with a Belle H. Loomis and a Belle Watson Melville. Hall could have been any number of people or a nickname for a close friend. The fact that Hemingway may have inscribed this book to three separate people is extremely unique and greatly increases the auction value of the work.
Hemingway letters can also bring substantial money. A June 15, 1961 letter Hemingway wrote nine-year-old Frederick Saviers, the ill son of Dr. George Saviers (Hemingway's doctor) sold for $25,300 in a 1999 auction. Christie's claimed that the letter was Ernest Hemingway's last dated piece of writing.
So is Hemingway stock a sound investment? According to Mark Allen Baker, an authority on autograph collecting, indeed it is: "To be honest I'm astonished at the market for Hemingway-related material. I spent many years collecting first edition books and prices for Hemingway material are going through the roof. You can't find pre-1940 material. I'm not shocked so much at the prices as I am the unavailability of earlier editions prior to 1940."
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How do I determine if I have a Hemingway first edition?
You should consult the special page of the Timeless Hemingway web site devoted to
this very question: First Edition Hemingway Books.
