Photos: Ernest Hemingway’s Early Life in Letters
A letter to Hadley Richardson, Hemingway’s first wife, December 23, 1920.
“Could have much easier lied to you and mentioned acceptance of half a dozen New Years dates—all of which I’d have thrown out in a minute for a sight of you—but have always had this beautiful truth talking habit with you.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Page two of the letter to the Hemingway family.
“The master journalist was known to the crowd as the American Hero of the Piave. I’m nothing but a second Lieut. or Soto Tenente but all the Captains saluted me first.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
An envelope addressed to Hemingway’s parents, Clarence and Grace Hall Hemingway, sent from Milan, Italy, during World War I.
“Dear Papa,” Hemingway wrote as a young boy, “today mama and the rest of us took a walk. We walked to the school house. . . . In the Wood Shed of the Scool house there was a porcupine. . . . I went in and gave I[t] a wack with the axx. Then I cave I[t] anthor and another. Then I crald in the wood.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
A letter to Hemingway’s mother, Grace, sent from Paris, February 14, 1922.
Hemingway moved to France with his wife, Hadley, in December 1921, from where he wrote: “We know a good batch of people now. . . . It is fun living in this oldest quarter of Paris and we have a wonderful time.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
Page four of the letter to the Hemingway family.
“The rainbow trout up in Hortons Bay can thank the Lord there is a war on. But they will be all the bigger next summer.... Lots of love to all and kiss Dessie for me. Ernie.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
A letter to the Hemingway family sent from the American Red Cross Hospital in Milan, August 4, 1918.
After an Austrian trench mortar left him hospitalized, Hemingway wrote: “The surgeon says that my leg is coming on very good and he plans now to operate on the knee and right foot on August 15th.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
Page two of the letter to Grace.
“Gertrude Stein who wrote Three Lives and a number of other good things was here to dinner last night and stayed till mid-night[.] She is about 55 I guess and very large and nice. She is very keen about my poetry.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
Page three of the letter to the Hemingway family.
“The silver medal is next to the highest Decoration that any man can receive. . . . It is higher than the French Croix D’Guerre and Medaille Militaire and ranks with the Legion of Honor they say.” From the Special Collection Libraries/The Pennsylvania State University Library.
Subsequent page of the letter to Hadley.
“‘Night my dearest Hash—I’d like to hold you so and kiss you so that you wouldn’t doubt whether I wanted to or not.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Next page of the letter to Hadley.
“Saw tragedy tonight. I was in a drug shop opposite the Marigold Gardens and a girl was telephoning in a booth . . . talking cheerily away and all the time dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief—Poor kid.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Following page of the letter to Hadley.
“‘Course I love you—I Love you all the time—when I wake up in the morning and have to climb out of bed and splash around and shave—I look at your picture and think about you.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Page two of the letter to Smith.
“Some clippings—nay whole newspapers shall be dispatched to you. . . . Observe the fine style, the compactness, the virility, the artistry of the articles.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Page three of the letter to Smith.
“Note how those articles writ by the writer excell those writ by others. The writer boosts himself. No one will boost the writer.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
A letter to boyhood friend William B. Smith Jr., March 4, 1921.
“Well Smith you don’t write to your friends any more do you? . . . Do not be the rats that desert the stinking ship. Tho very shamed the writer be compared to the stinking ship. The writer does not stink.” From the Hemingway Collection/The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
