Ernest Hemingway’s longing letter to Marlene Dietrich has sold for $18,750 at Swann Auction Galleries.

The lot was among the stars of the May 4 Autographs sale in New York.

Hemingway and Dietrich had a mutual affection for one another 

Hemingway wrote the 1952 letter on paper headed “Finca Vigia”, the name of the author's home in Cuba.

Hemingway and Dietrich first met in 1934. While the two were never an item, there was a spark between them that smouldered throughout the rest of their lives.

Hemingway wrote that they were “victims of unsynchronised passion”, as whenever one of them was out of a relationship the other was deep into another.

At the time of writing Hemingway had been married to his fourth wife Mary for around eight years.

In this candid letter he writes: “I always love you and admire you and I have all sorts of mixed up feelings about you…

“We both have the endurance and the fortitude and we never lost the pointe de vitesse. The main difference is that you are beautiful and I am ugly.”

There are also references to issues surrounding publication of his final novel, The Old Man and the Sea.

Last year another letter from Hemingway to Dietrich, in which he affectionately addresses her as “Dearest Kraut”, realised $15,625.

We have a selection of letters from famous figures throughout history for sale.

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