University of South Carolina given huge collection of Hemingway publications

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A love of Ernest Hemingway's writing and the thrill of tracking down his many works led a Mississippi physician to amass a huge literary collection and donate it to the University of South Carolina so students and scholars could share it, the doctor said on Tuesday.

“It's like an Easter egg hunt. You just don't know what's going to pop up,” Edgar Grissom said as he described his 50-year effort to compile all of Hemingway's English-language publications.

“I have the most complete collection of his primary works in existence,” Grissom said. “There's no equal to it.”

The 70-year-old Grissom was joined by his wife Julie, 46, at a showing of the collection in the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collection Library on USC's Columbia campus. Dozens of books in their original dust jackets, along with pamphlets, magazines, proofs and papers are on display in glass-covered cases.

Teachers will be able to access the collection to help students better understand Hemingway's creative writing process, university officials said.

“It provides a tremendous resource. It makes writing real in a very powerful way,” said William Rivers, chairman of the university's English Department. “There is no other place in the world now where scholars can go to look at Hemingway's primary materials.”

Grissom said his efforts began in his 20s as a medical student, and grew over the years. From the time he first read “The Green Hills of Africa,” until he published his own bibliography of Hemingway's work in 2011, Grissom said he intended his collection to be used by scholars.

Grissom said the collection includes more than 1,200 copies of novels and first editions as well as 2,500 additional items such as editor's proofs that few collectors even know exist.