Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST
Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
773
Antonio Ordóñez's “Suit of Lights” owned by Ernest Hemingway
[HEMINGWAY, ERNEST]
Antonio Ordóñez' “Suit of Lights.” The Traje de Luces or Suit of Lights worn by Spanish matador Antonio Ordóñez comprising the hand-crafted jacket, pants, and vest decorated with gold tassels and sequins, with label of Manfredi of Seville; an associated matador's sword acquired by Hemingway and gifted to A.E. Hotchner, this being the sword he carried in the bullfighting ring as sobrasaliente in 1959, approximately 31.5 inches long. The suit and sword with areas of wear, small losses, and stains, the sword handle covered in tape; and offered with Hemingway's "Lucky Chestnut" and a small sterling silver matador, presented by Hemingway to A.E. Hotchner, and a copy of Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer, a paperback with the appropriate sections highlighted.
Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, 10 July 2013, lot 1075
The Suit of Lights
Ernest Hemingway first met the Spanish matador Cayetano Ordóñez in Pamplona in the 1920s and later developed a very close relationship to his son, matador Antonio Ordóñez (1932-1998), who fought in the ring from 1948-68. The items in this archive are discussed in both Ernest Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer and A.E. Hotchner's Papa Hemingway. This Suit of Lights can be seen worn by Ordóñez in many color pictures of the period and was worn by him the day Hemingway biographer H.A. Hotchner served as Ordóñez' sobrasaliente or substitute matador during his mano a mano with Luis Miguel Dominguín at Ciudad Real. It has been suggested that Ordóñez would not wear a suit of lights that has blood on it from previous bulls and that Ernest Hemingway came to own three of Ordóñez' Traje de Luces, the present being one of them.
From The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemingway, Chapter 12: "Since Pamplona Hotch and Antonio had been switching identities ... Antonio was going to have Hotch dress in his room in one of his suits and take him into the ring as the substitute matador or sobresaliente who would have to kill the bulls if both Luis Miguel and Antonio were injured. He wanted Hotch to have to be, or anyway to be, Antonio on the day of the fight and during the fight. It was absolutely illegal and I do not know how grave the penalties would be if anyone spotted Hotch. Of course he was not really sobresaliente but Antonio wanted him to think he was... 'What do I do exactly?' Hotch asked." Hemingway continues describing the fight for several pages.
Hemingway's Lucky Chestnut
In Papa Hemingway by A.E. Hotchner: "[Hemingway explained], 'During the war, what I had for a lucky piece was a red stone my son Bumby had given me, but one morning in England when I was scheduled to fly a mission with the RAF, the floor maid at my hotel brought back my pants from the cleaners and I realized that I had left the stone in one of the pockets and the cleaner had thrown it away...I said to the maid, "Give me something for a lucky piece - just anything and wish me luck on it and that will do it." Well, she didn't have anything in the pocket of her uniform but she picked up the cork from a bottle of Mumm I had drunk the night before and gave me that. Damn good thing I had it-every plane on that flight got chewed up except ours. Best lucky piece I ever had and now it's been spirited away. You guys won't find it - I've checked out the whole joint. Tell you what, Hotch. While you're out raising capital, bring me back something. Anything, as long as it's pocket size...' As we moved toward the door, Ernest said to me, 'I better take my lucky piece now.' We always took each other's responsibilities for granted. 'It fell on my head,' I said, 'where the Champs Elysées comes into the Concorde. It has a nice clear eye, don't you think?' Ernest took the chestnut, rubbed some oil on it from the side of his nose, nodded, and put it in his pants pocket. 'Never lose your faith in mysticism, boy,' he said, and he pushed on through the revolving door."
Sadly, Hotchner also provides this passage in Papa Hemingway: "In the beginning of June, on my way back from Hollywood, I rented a car in Minneapolis and drove the ninety miles to Rochester...[Hotchner took Hemingway for a drive and then they walked down a trail in a nearby wooded area.] A rise of tears made it impossible for me to talk any more. Ernest was not looking at me; he was watching a small bird foraging in the scrub. 'You remember I told you once she [wife Mary Hemingway] did not know about other people's hurts. Well, I was wrong. She knows. She knows how I hurt and she suffers trying to help me - I wish to Christ I could spare her that. Listen, Hotch, whatever happens, whatever...she's good and strong, but remember sometimes the strongest of women need help' I couldn't manage anymore. I walked a short distance away. He came over and put his hand on my shoulder. 'Poor old Hotch,' he said. 'I'm so damn sorry. Here, I want you to have this.' He had the horse chestnut from Paris in his hand.' 'But, Papa, that's your lucky piece.' 'I want you to have it.' 'Then I'll give you another.' 'Okay.' I stooped down to pick up a bright pebble but Ernest stopped me. 'Nothing from here,' he said. 'There's no such thing as a lucky piece from Rochester, Minnesota.' I had a key ring that one of my daughters had given me, that had a carved wooden figure attached to it, so I removed the figure and gave him that. 'If I could get out of here and get back to Ketchum.'...I stayed with him for a few hours in his room. He was pleasant but distant. We talked about books and sports; nothing personal. Late in the day I drove back to Minneapolis. I never saw him again." The chestnut is also mentioned on pages 59, 61, 62, and 299 of Papa Hemingway.
Excellent relics of Hemingway's time writing about bullfighting in Spain.
$10,000 - $20,000
[HEMINGWAY, ERNEST]
Antonio Ordóñez' “Suit of Lights.” The Traje de Luces or Suit of Lights worn by Spanish matador Antonio Ordóñez comprising the hand-crafted jacket, pants, and vest decorated with gold tassels and sequins, with label of Manfredi of Seville; an associated matador's sword acquired by Hemingway and gifted to A.E. Hotchner, this being the sword he carried in the bullfighting ring as sobrasaliente in 1959, approximately 31.5 inches long. The suit and sword with areas of wear, small losses, and stains, the sword handle covered in tape; and offered with Hemingway's "Lucky Chestnut" and a small sterling silver matador, presented by Hemingway to A.E. Hotchner, and a copy of Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer, a paperback with the appropriate sections highlighted.
Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, 10 July 2013, lot 1075
The Suit of Lights
Ernest Hemingway first met the Spanish matador Cayetano Ordóñez in Pamplona in the 1920s and later developed a very close relationship to his son, matador Antonio Ordóñez (1932-1998), who fought in the ring from 1948-68. The items in this archive are discussed in both Ernest Hemingway's The Dangerous Summer and A.E. Hotchner's Papa Hemingway. This Suit of Lights can be seen worn by Ordóñez in many color pictures of the period and was worn by him the day Hemingway biographer H.A. Hotchner served as Ordóñez' sobrasaliente or substitute matador during his mano a mano with Luis Miguel Dominguín at Ciudad Real. It has been suggested that Ordóñez would not wear a suit of lights that has blood on it from previous bulls and that Ernest Hemingway came to own three of Ordóñez' Traje de Luces, the present being one of them.
From The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemingway, Chapter 12: "Since Pamplona Hotch and Antonio had been switching identities ... Antonio was going to have Hotch dress in his room in one of his suits and take him into the ring as the substitute matador or sobresaliente who would have to kill the bulls if both Luis Miguel and Antonio were injured. He wanted Hotch to have to be, or anyway to be, Antonio on the day of the fight and during the fight. It was absolutely illegal and I do not know how grave the penalties would be if anyone spotted Hotch. Of course he was not really sobresaliente but Antonio wanted him to think he was... 'What do I do exactly?' Hotch asked." Hemingway continues describing the fight for several pages.
Hemingway's Lucky Chestnut
In Papa Hemingway by A.E. Hotchner: "[Hemingway explained], 'During the war, what I had for a lucky piece was a red stone my son Bumby had given me, but one morning in England when I was scheduled to fly a mission with the RAF, the floor maid at my hotel brought back my pants from the cleaners and I realized that I had left the stone in one of the pockets and the cleaner had thrown it away...I said to the maid, "Give me something for a lucky piece - just anything and wish me luck on it and that will do it." Well, she didn't have anything in the pocket of her uniform but she picked up the cork from a bottle of Mumm I had drunk the night before and gave me that. Damn good thing I had it-every plane on that flight got chewed up except ours. Best lucky piece I ever had and now it's been spirited away. You guys won't find it - I've checked out the whole joint. Tell you what, Hotch. While you're out raising capital, bring me back something. Anything, as long as it's pocket size...' As we moved toward the door, Ernest said to me, 'I better take my lucky piece now.' We always took each other's responsibilities for granted. 'It fell on my head,' I said, 'where the Champs Elysées comes into the Concorde. It has a nice clear eye, don't you think?' Ernest took the chestnut, rubbed some oil on it from the side of his nose, nodded, and put it in his pants pocket. 'Never lose your faith in mysticism, boy,' he said, and he pushed on through the revolving door."
Sadly, Hotchner also provides this passage in Papa Hemingway: "In the beginning of June, on my way back from Hollywood, I rented a car in Minneapolis and drove the ninety miles to Rochester...[Hotchner took Hemingway for a drive and then they walked down a trail in a nearby wooded area.] A rise of tears made it impossible for me to talk any more. Ernest was not looking at me; he was watching a small bird foraging in the scrub. 'You remember I told you once she [wife Mary Hemingway] did not know about other people's hurts. Well, I was wrong. She knows. She knows how I hurt and she suffers trying to help me - I wish to Christ I could spare her that. Listen, Hotch, whatever happens, whatever...she's good and strong, but remember sometimes the strongest of women need help' I couldn't manage anymore. I walked a short distance away. He came over and put his hand on my shoulder. 'Poor old Hotch,' he said. 'I'm so damn sorry. Here, I want you to have this.' He had the horse chestnut from Paris in his hand.' 'But, Papa, that's your lucky piece.' 'I want you to have it.' 'Then I'll give you another.' 'Okay.' I stooped down to pick up a bright pebble but Ernest stopped me. 'Nothing from here,' he said. 'There's no such thing as a lucky piece from Rochester, Minnesota.' I had a key ring that one of my daughters had given me, that had a carved wooden figure attached to it, so I removed the figure and gave him that. 'If I could get out of here and get back to Ketchum.'...I stayed with him for a few hours in his room. He was pleasant but distant. We talked about books and sports; nothing personal. Late in the day I drove back to Minneapolis. I never saw him again." The chestnut is also mentioned on pages 59, 61, 62, and 299 of Papa Hemingway.
Excellent relics of Hemingway's time writing about bullfighting in Spain.
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Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps, Dec 6, 2024
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Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 10am
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Featuring The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
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Consignments Are Currently Being Accepted for Future Auctions
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We Invite You to Contact Us for a Complimentary Auction Evaluation of Your Books, Autographs & Maps
NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle will hold an auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 10am. Showcased is a wonderful diversity of Americana, maps, autographs, early books and landmarks of literature and science.
The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler
The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection offers the largest trove of unpublished Raymond Chandler stories, poetry, letters, books and personal artifacts to come to market. Best known for his Philip Marlowe detective novels including The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell, My Lovely (1940) and as screenwriter of film noir classics such as Double Indemnity (1944) and The Blue Dahlia (1946), Raymond Chandler is considered one of the top writers in the hardboiled fiction genre alongside Dashiell Hammett and James Cain. Held for decades, the archive belonged to Jean Fracasse [later Vounder-Davis] who was first hired in January 1957 as Chandler's personal secretary but quickly became his close friend, confidant, fiancé and muse to whom he dedicated his last book (Est. $3000-5000). At the center of the archive is an extensive group of unpublished drafts of fantasy stories begun by Chandler in the 1920s, envisioned as a book in 1939, and retained by him until given to Sybil and Jean in 1957 (Est. $40,000-60,000). Nearly 800 typed and hand-annotated pages, the fantasy stories have compelling titles such as The Disappearing Duke, The Rubies of Marmelon, and The Carsbrook Mystery. Written during the period Chandler was honing his craft, the drafts offer much on the writer’s working method. Another excellent offering is Raymond Chandler’s Olivetti Studio 44 typewriter used to write his final novel Playback (Est. $10,000-20,000) and an inscribed copy of that novel to the dedicatee’s son. Unpublished poems, letters, inscribed books, and personal artifacts abound such as Chandler’s cocktail muddlers, jewelry gifted to Jean and her daughter Sybil, and Chandler’s 1945 Edgar Allan Poe Award. Now nearly seventy years since his death, this is the largest trove of Chandler papers to come to light, and the Jean Vounder-Davis Collection undoubtedly provides valuable insight to Raymond Chandler’s complicated last years. Institutions and collectors should take notice of the unparalleled opportunity to acquire unpublished material from this major 20th century author.
Literature
Beyond Raymond Chandler, literature is headed by a group of early Ernest Hemingway titles including his first two books Three Stories and Ten Poems and In Our Time. An item of Hemingway interest is matador Antonio Ordóñez's Traje de Luces or Suit of Lights worn in the bullfighting rings of Spain while Hemingway wrote One Dangerous Summer. A manuscript page from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is offered in the auction as is a rare pack of promotional Random House Who is John Galt? cigarettes. 19th century literature offers an early printing of Frankenstein and the Polidori's The Vampyre.
Presidential Material & Americana
Presidential material includes a wooden beam from the 1949 White House reconstruction inscribed by Harry Truman and excellent letters from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Mamie during World War II. Early Americana features a rare document in defense of a Shay's Rebellion conspirator sentenced to death and a scarce periodical titled the Colonizationalist which encouraged settlement to Liberia and the Oregon Territory.
Maps & Travel
From an Upper East Side Map Collector comes H.S. Tanner's extremely rare monumental wall map of North America and Munster's circa 1568 map of North and South America. A collection of world maps offers a finely colored example of Visscher's 1652 double-hemispheric world map and other related examples. Travel includes a scarce copy of Sir Walter Raleigh's 1596 narrative of his discovery of Guiana.
Art & Illustrated Books
Art and illustrated books includes a set of Rockwell Kent's edition of Moby Dick and an original illustration from the book. The manuscript of a children's book by Nanno Freerk de Groot is present as are works by Milne, Sendak, Rackham and others.
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