Papa’s Typewriter And Corbett’s Rifle

Why is it that we want things owned or utilized by our heroes?

I ask this because it was recently announced that the typewriter Ernest Hemmingway used to craft A Moveable Feast will be auctioned off by University Archives on Wednesday, February 26. The mid-1950’s Royal typewriter HH Serial #HHP-4938968 was actually owned by Papa’s friend and biographer, A. E. Hotchner, but loaned to Hemingway in 1959. Papa borrowed the typewriter to work on turning his recently discovered notes from his time in Paris into the now famous memoir. Hemingway returned the typewriter to Hotchner in 1960. The Royal is stated to be in “Superb condition,” comes with the original typewriter ribbon and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Mr. Hotchner. The current bid on the typewriter is $16,000 but is expected to bring somewhere between $50,000 to $100,000 at auction time.

I’m not sure why I’m interested in obtaining this piece of literary history. I certainly can’t afford it (Full Disclosure: I am $50,000 to $100,000 short of having the winning bid) and, to be completely honest, I can’t actually type. I hunt and peck. I know that owning a piece of Hemingway’s past won’t make me a better writer and certainly won’t garnish me the kind of success and fame he had as a writer.

And yet I still want it.

My longing for a piece of Papa reminds me of a man I met in Botswana. I was following Brian Welker on an elephant hunt in order to write about the adventure for Sporting Classics magazine. While in camp one night, our conversation turned to famous hunters in history and ultimately to Jim Corbett, the famed tiger hunter who specialized in killing maneaters. It was during that conversation that Welker told me he was planning to purchase a rifle inspired by — but not actually owned by — Jim Corbett at an upcoming auction. Welker succeeded in buying the .275 Rigby rifle for $250,000. Afterward, Welker said that owning the rifle helped him feel connected to Corbett.

Is that why I want Papa’s typewriter?

To better feel connected to a man I never met?

Again, I’m not sure.

What I am sure of is how much I admire Hemingway.

Not only because the man won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 or because he basically invented – or reinvented – American fiction, but because he lived a life that we in the 21st century can barely comprehend. He was a rock star of a writer and lifestyle influencer in a time before social media. He hunted and fished the world over, sought adventure after adventure and basically lived life on his terms. Papa didn’t just live life – he tore off huge chunks of it at a time and devoured them as if it was his last day on Earth. Try emulating any of that today and see how long it takes for the world to come calling for your head.

Owning Hemingway’s typewriter wouldn’t allow me to live that life nor would it grant me fortune and fame. But perhaps it would give me a feeling of connection to the man, some semblance that although we are separated by decades of time, we somehow share something.

Or, then again, maybe owning his typewriter would simply put me in six figure debt.

Yeah, probably the latter.

Author Gayne C. Young has contributed to Sporting Classics for more than 20 years. He is the author of And Monkeys Threw Crap At Me: Adventures in Hunting, Fishing, and Writing, Texas Safari: The Game Hunters Guide To Texas, Sumatra, The Tunnel, Bug Hunt, Teddy Roosevelt: Sasquatch Hunter, Vikings: The Bigfoot Saga, and more. In January 2011, Gayne C. Young became the first American outdoor writer to interview Russian Prime Minister, and former Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Visit Gayne at his Amazon page.