LOT #36573 |
Sold on Apr 7, 2011 for: Not Sold
Ernest Hemingway. The Christmas Gift. In Look Magazine, Vol. 18, No 8....
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Description
Inscribed by Three Times by Ernest Hemingway to his Close Friend, Ambassador David Bruce
Ernest Hemingway. The Christmas Gift. In Look Magazine, Vol. 18, No 8. [New York:] Look Magazine, [April 20, 1954]. [Together with:] Ernest Hemingway. Part II of The Christmas Gift. Advance Sheets from Look Magazine [New York: Look Magazine, May 4, 1954].Complete magazine with Hemingway's inscription to David Bruce on cover: "For Evangeline and David Bruce from Mary and Ernest." Quarto. 128 pages. The advance sheets are also inscribed by Hemingway [on page 81]: "For Evangeline / and David Bruce / with love / Ernest[underlined]." These sheets are pages 79 to 86 for the article to appear in the magazine, printed on rectos only. With two pages of Editor's notes placing the article in context, printed on rectos only. (All pages approximately 13.25 x 10 inches). One more Hemingway inscription appears on the front free endpaper above photographs of Hemingway, Bill Davis, Bruce and others: "Bruce / From Ernest Hemingway / Venice / May 1954."
Both issues and Editor's Notes bound together in contemporary decorated red and green paper over boards, with burgundy gilt morocco lettering label on spine. Light wear to spine and label, some rubbing to boards, else fine. With Ambassador David Bruce's highly stylized Staunton Hill Bookplate. Housed in chemise and slipcase. Included is a photograph of David Bruce and Hemingway at Hemingway's sixtieth birthday party. A wonderful association.
We know of no other copies of these issues of Look Magazine inscribed by Hemingway. Hanneman does not reference the advance copy. The two issues of Look Magazine print Hemingway's tale of his (and Mary's) two brushes with death -- surviving two plane crashes in Africa while on assignment for Look, both crashes taking place during January, 1954.
O.S.S. Colonel David Bruce met Ernest Hemingway in August of 1944, when Hemingway attached himself as a journalist to Bruce's command between Rambouillet and Paris, becoming the first correspondent to venture into that area. Thus began a lifelong friendship.
While in Rambouillet, Hemingway gained a reputation for taking liberties with the rules that governed journalists; he carried weapons, and exerted influence on military personnel. For this, he was eventually brought up on charges of improper conduct. Bruce and two other officers testified on his behalf. Bruce's testimony indicated his loyalty to his friend, perhaps turning a blind eye to Hemingway's questionable conduct: "I witnessed no instance of Mr. Hemingway having conducted himself in any manner other than appropriate for a loyal American acting efficiently during a period of emergency. I never saw him armed nor did I hear of any instance of his having personally engaged in combat with the enemy" (Meyers, p. 411).
Hemingway's friendship with Bruce continued long after the war, as evidenced by the two warm inscriptions on these magazines. Bruce and his wife, Evangeline, were on the guest list for Hemingway's lavish sixtieth birthday party in Spain in 1959, by which time Bruce had been appointed American Ambassador to Germany. Bruce would serve as ambassador to: Germany, England, NATO, China, and France. Mary Hemingway would eventually say of Bruce: "There wasn't any other man of whom Ernest said so often -- after his own good or bad behavior -- 'I know, I should emulate Dave Bruce.'"
Auction Info
2011 April New York Signature Rare Books Auction #6053 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2011
7th-9th
Thursday-Saturday
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