Hemingway's letter about plane crash just auctioned

Attorney Alfred Rice once received a handwritten note from Ernest Hemingway, describing his experience hunting a lion in Kenya with a poorly equipped gun, as well as his own painful condition after two consecutive plane crashes in just two days.

4 handwritten pages of Hemingway sold at auction

According to records, on January 23, 1954, Hemingway and his wife, Mary, were traveling by plane to photograph Murchison Falls in Uganda as they were finishing a hunting trip in the country. At that time, the Cessna lost control and then crashed when the pilot tried to make an emergency landing to avoid hitting a large flock of storks.

They then spent the night in the woods, and the press quickly reported that Hemingway had unfortunately died. However, the next day, they were discovered and rescued by boat to Lake Albert at Butiaba. Hemingway and Mary then boarded a rescue plane, but it caught fire and then crashed shortly after takeoff. Both were seriously injured, and Hemingway never fully recovered from the accident.

This photo shows the wreckage of the small Cessna 180 plane that carried Ernest and Mary Hemingway on an African safari.

In a letter written on April 17, 1954, Hemingway explained: “The problem is internal, my kidneys are ruptured, while my liver and spleen are badly damaged” and said that he: “Cannot write much because my right arm has third-degree burns, while many other fingers are also damaged so I cannot type. If I move too much, cramps will come.”

He also indicated that his condition was not very optimistic because internal bleeding would require him to rest. Of his wife, he wrote that “Mary has had a great shock and her memory is still not very stable”. However, “everything is fine here”.

Ernest and Mary Hemingway

Composed on paper from a hotel in Venice, the letter also contained complaints about shipping errors by Abercrombie & Fitch, the licensed arms dealer of the time. “The company’s carelessness in shipping put my life and livelihood in danger,” the novelist added.

In the letters, Hemingway's worsening financial problems also fueled his criticism of his attorney, expressing frustration that his attorney was "mismanaging his estate."

The 1954 Nobel Prize winner for literature wrote in 1956: “When I give you a specific instruction twice, I will not be responsible for anything if you do not follow it […] I know it is difficult for you to listen to my instructions, and it is rare that you do not interrupt me when I speak. But please read the following lines carefully and consider them carefully before you object to them.”

The letter was auctioned at Nate D Sanders Auctions on Thursday (August 31) and attracted 12 bidders. It was the centerpiece of a collection of nine letters written between 1939 and 1958, along with another letter reflecting on his novel To Have and Have Not that sold for $6,875.

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