A set of three x-rays taken of Ernest Hemingway's war injuries in 1918 are to sell at Bonhams.
They will be offered as a single lot, with an estimate of $15,000-20,000, in the December 7 Voices of the 20th Century auction in New York.
 Hemingway was badly injured in a mortar attack in Italy in 1918 |
Hemingway signed up to work as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross on the Italian front in 1918, at the tail end of the first world war.
He was badly wounded in both legs in a mortar attack while handing out chocolates to Italian troops in the frontline trench.
He later wrote in his introduction to the anthology Men at War: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immortality.
"Other people get killed; not you�Ǫ
"Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you.
"After being severely wounded two weeks before my nineteenth birthday I had a bad time until I figured out that nothing could happen to me that had not happened to all men before me."
While recovering in hospital Hemingway would meet Agnes von Kurowsky, with whom he fell head over heels in love. The affair only lasted a couple of months but made a huge impression on him.
The auction will also feature visionary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's original script for his masterpiece, Stalker (1979).
You can take a look at all our memorabilia for sale here.
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