Bank check, 8.5 x 3.25, filled out and signed by Hemingway, “Ernest M. Hemingway,” payable to his friend and assistant Roberto Herrera for $150, February 14, 1953. Also endorsed on the reverse by Herrera. In very good condition, with three vertical folds (one passing through a single letter of the signature), scattered foxing and soiling, expected bank stamps and cancellation holes (one stamp lightly affecting first letter of signature), and show-through from Herrera’s endorsement to the reverse. Herrera was Hemingway’s close friend, part-time secretary, and brother of his Cuban doctor; he frequently accompanied the writer on his exploits aboard the famous fishing boat named Pilar. Three months after writing this check Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, which was inspired by his own marlin fishing trips in Cuba and has become one of his most well-known works.
