1 hemingway's library - John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

in January 1977. At that time, we were able to ascertain that the books in 1977 were essentially as they had been in
1966.
For our composite record, we used a microfilm of the Cuban inventory that Dr. Hans-Joachim Kann had
earlier obtained from the Biblioteca Nacional.(143) Because this microfilm was made from a carbon copy of the
original inventory and because of apparent voltage fluctuations during the filming, this microfilm is barely
legible.(144) In addition, it is an imperfect copy of the original: eight pages are copied twice, six pages are missing
and three pages are blank. Fortunately, three of the missing pages and all of the blank pages listed periodicals. Only
three pages of books are missing. One of these pages is from the Library, one from Hemingway's Study and one
from the Tower.(145) Efforts to acquire copies of the missing pages have not been successful, but some of the books
recorded on these pages have been restored from other sources (see, for example, items 6557 and 6655).
Although the inventory is basically accurate and dependable, its size and the fact that it contains books in
many languages resulted in numerous small errors and confusions. In the case of authors' names, these range from
simple misspellings to the surprising assertion that a volume entitled "Shooting" had been authored by "Moor (and
others).@ The work is, in fact, Eric Parker's Shooting by Moor, Field, and Shore. Occasionally, titles are
inaccurately transcribed. Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks appears as "Budden rooks books" while Delbert Clark's
Again the Goose Step: The Lost Fruits of Victory is rendered as "Again the goose fruits of victory." Although dates
are naturally subject to typographical error, for the most part they are accurate.
The many paperback books published in the United States constitute an area in which particular difficulties
occur because frequently the date of publication is not ascertainable
from the volume itself. In such cases the Cuban librarians naturally fell into error. For example, the date given on
FV for the Dell edition of Mary Webb's Gone to Earth is 1928. If a copy of the Dell edition is examined, it is found
that no date of publication for that edition is given, only the dates of the original copyrights: "MCMXVII,
MCMXXVIII." The Cuban librarians used the second date, but the Dell edition was published in 1950. These
errors are corrected in our record.
Since the Finca Vigía was Hemingway's principal residence from 1939 to 1960, we have considered its
library a family library and have presented it in its entirety, including in our composite record children's books (for
example, items 3056 and 5812) and schoolbooks (for example, items 4540, 6176 and 6211), as well as books that
would seem to have belonged
essentially to Mary Hemingway (for example, items 6495, 7126 and 7284). However, four categories of material
have for the most part been omitted from the record:
a. 278 books written by Hemingway himself. Works edited or introduced by Hemingway have been
included. For these items, see the index.
b. Almost 2,000 periodicals which the inventory describes as scattered throughout the Main House and the
other buildings.(146) These, it should be remembered, are only the survivors of Mary Hemingway's
"tremendous clean-up" in 1961: "René and the gardeners ... wheel-barrowed load after load of
five-and-ten-year old copies of Ruedo, the Spanish bullfight magazine, of the London Economist and other
British weeklies, of French and a dozen United States publications to a bonfire below the tennis court..
.."(147) During our visit in 1977 periodicals containing feature articles on Hemingway had been selected
from among the survivors and were on display in the Library and the Front Room.
C. 166 pieces of trivia. Many of these entries describe pamphlets or brochures that lack publication
information and are not books in the normal sense. They were included by the Cuban librarians because it
was their task to produce a complete inventory. A few examples may best define this category: "The New
Waring Blender ... Serves Everyone," "Cuba Tourist Commission," "Your Steuben Glass and How to Care
for It," "The Art of Gift Wrapping," the American Automobile Association Western Emergency Service
Directory for 1958, Abercrombie and Fitch catalogues, Union Pacific Railroad Time Tables, "Plan-guide
de Paris" and catalogues of long-playing records.
d. Nine incoherent or unverifiable entries. The Cuban entries in this category are:
The Fifties. Minnesota, 1958.
Rhinos Eros. (s.l.) 1960.
Erico Glassi. (s.l., s.a.).
Strids. (s.l., s.a.).
Picasso party. (s.l.) 1960.
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