Hemingway & "Bear Tracks"

11/13/2025 General, Books & Autographs

A fascinating offering in the Rare Books, Autographs & Maps sale on November 25 is a group of inscribed photographs, a typed letter, and ephemera signed from Ernest Hemingway to his great friend, the famed Sun Valley, Idaho hunting and fishing guide Taylor "Bear Tracks" Williams. The group begins with an inscribed photograph of Hemingway and wife Martha Gellhorn on one of the author's first visits to Ketchum. The photo shows an optimistic, forward-looking couple just returned from their reporting trip to Spain during the Civil War. The dust jacket photo on the back of For Whom the Bell Tolls shows Hemingway in Sun Valley where he composed a large section of the novel. A letter and inscribed photograph relate to Williams' visits to Cuba to fish in tournaments with Ernest and wife Mary, who proudly shows of a trophy fish in one photo. Williams and Hemingway became quite close; also present are Williams' typed recollections of Ernest, apparently unpublished. Finally, some signed photos show actors Gary Cooper and Clark Gable hunting with Hemingway and Williams, and an uncommon item is a signed photograph depicting two of Hemingway's young children.