Pulitzer Prize-winning author expresses concern over his library fines
This is one of an occasional series in “A Moveable Read” publishing correspondence between Ernest Hemingway and the Oak Park Public Library in Illinois. These letters are being published for the first time.
Scoville Institute
Pulitzer Prize-winning author expresses concern over his library fines
It’s 1953. Hemingway has won a Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, and is a year from winning the Nobel Prize. He is writing energetically and with renewed authority. He is also preparing for an African safari late in the year.
In a surprisingly endearing letter written from his Cuba home, Hemingway marks the anniversary of the Oak Park Public Library in Illinois and sends money to cover document copying (for sharing his letter) and, amusingly, for any library fines he may have accrued over the years. He also humbly asks if the Library might be interested in a complete autographed collection of his novels.
- Craig Mindrum, Ph.D.
[Postmarked] FINCA VIGIA SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, CUBA [Hemingway’s residence]
June 10th 1953
Dear Mr. Wezeman:
Thank you very much for your letter. Unfortunately, I was at sea when anniversary dinner of the library occurred or I would have sent you a message telling you how much I owe to the library and how much it has meant to me all my life.
If it is not too late could you see that this letter reaches those who were present at the dinner? I would be very glad to pay for the cost of having it mimeographed and, in any event, enclose a small check.
If you find that I owe any fines or dues you can apply it against them.
I was born 13 years after Scoville Institute [the original village library] was founded so I cannot really rate as an Old Timer. But I was frequenting the Library within three years after the founding.
If you would like to have a set of the books which Scribner’s are publishing of mine for the Library I would be very happy to write in them if they would be of any value or use to you.
With sincere best wishes,
[signed] Ernest Hemingway
Credit:
Hemingway, Ernest. Letter to Frederick Wezeman, 10 June 1953. Ernest Hemingway collection. Oak Park Public Library Special Collections, Oak Park, IL USA.