In “Correspondence and the Everyday Hemingway,” Verna Kale and Sandra Spanier examine what letters as opposed to literary biography reveal about a writer. As two guiding forces behind the Letters Project – the collaborative effort producing a multivolume scholarly edition of Hemingway’s correspondence, which published its first volume in 2011 and is not scheduled to conclude until 2043 – Kale and Spanier are in a unique position to assess how the correspondence’s availability has expanded our notions of quotidian Hemingway. As they note, there has always been an interest in Hemingway’s letters: as early as 1930, correspondents attempted to sell their letters from him to collectors to cash in on his fame. But his private correspondence wasn’t officially available until 1981 with Carlos Baker’s Selected Letters, a book that immediately impacted Hemingway scholarship. That volume, however, collects less than 10 percent of the 6,000 letters catalogued by the Hemingway Project and gives disproportional attention to 1922–1926 and 1952, somewhat distorting impressions of his life and career; nearly 85 percent of the material the Project will gather has never been published before.

The March 1934 issue of Vanity Fair featured a full-page, full-color Ernest Hemingway paper doll, captioned “Ernest Hemingway, America's own literary cave man;

Aug 1— 1933

Dear Mr. Gingritch:—

Enclosed corrected typescript— It is OK to head it Marlin off The Moro if you want but I would very much prefer that you omitted the 2nd Deck (enclose your letter so you see what I mean)

Jan 5—

Dear Max:—

The reason you have not received the Mss is that the typist sprained his ankle—

April 16

Dear Max;

Got down here to find everything going very well. Kids in fine shape. Weather perfect. Will have the boat in about 10 days now.

I wonder if the retail dept. could send me these.

Still Piggott

December 30

Dear Ezra:—

All clarified due to arrival of Il Mare this morning.

It was damned nice of Monotti anyway— He must be a good guy.

Gardiner Mont 10-8-32

[To] Mrs Ernest Hemingway

[Street and No.] 907 Whitehead Street

[Place] Keywest Fla

To Priscilla Calmer

wishing her very much luck.

Ernest Hemingway

Paris

November 20

1933

Hotel Ambos Mundos

Habana—Cuba

June 9

Dear Moe:

Thanks ever so much for handling the contract and for letting me know just now that the money for the option has gone to Hadley—

April 9, 1934

Mr. Arnold Gingrich

233 East Walton Place

Chicago, Illinois

Thanks Your a good guy1 Will write from Key West believe those two African letters plenty next one should be on fishing

Hemingway

December 22—

Dear Archie:—

You see my original proposition—outlined so it could be read to your editor—was that I would write you a fish piece if I found I could not get going good on stories when reached K.W.

May 14—

Dear old Archie:—

It is damned fine you got the prize. We were all cockeyed pleased when saw it in the paper— Good luck you missed the dinner too from the newspaper account—

Address Barclay's Bank

Nairobi

Kenya Colony. (British East Africa)

[A BORD DU] General Metzinger [LE] e 26 November 1933

Dear Family:

Merry Christmas!

Gardiner Mont 10-8-32

[To] L C O Hickock

[Street and No.] Brooklyn Eagle Bureau

[Place] Paris

Piece Highly permissable love to you and Mary

CBP7 16 XC=KEYWEST FLO 17 959A

ARNOLD GINGRICH=

233 EAST WALTON PL=(

GO AHEAD WITH SHOOTISM STOP WHEN DO YOU WANT

AUGUST LETTER BY GOOD LUCK BERMUDA REGARDS=

HEMINGWAY.

Dear Cody:

Here's the piece. Hope it's all right Please copy exactly and send original to me at 907 Whitehead Street Key West—Florida— Marked Please Hold.