The Old Man and the Sea  

Author:  Ernest Hemingway.

Signed in my presence by Gregorio Fuentes

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have:

From the Mid 1990's  until his passing. I visited Cuban many times.  Traveling under an OFAC permit I was a frequent visitor to the island

During my many trips I was able to meet with Gregorio Fuentes:

We called our meetings consultations,  during these visits. Gregorio was kind enough to sign various editions of the Hemingway Book "The Old Man and The Sea"

I was able to procure original copies of Life, Bohemia, the LP record both soft and hard covers. as well as 1st editions.

Pictured are a few images of Gregorio holding a signed magazine or book.

Each signature is unique,  and written by the hand of captain Fuentes.

This auction is only for 1 signed book. It is the main image.

.  It was signed in Cuba by Gregorio Fuentes.

Gregorio Fuentes it has been said was the central figure in the book,  It is well known that Gregorio was the Capitian for Ernest hemingway dating from the 1930's to Hemingways departure from Cuban in 1959.

It was the practice of Gregorio to sign books and other Hemingway memorabilia while have a good cigar in his livingroom.

 (i visited Gregorio and his grandson Rafael many times in Cuba prior to his death in 2002, I traveled under an OFAC permit and this allowed me to interact with many people during my frequent trips to the island.  

On these visits I often had Gregorio sign editions of the Hemingway book as well as other related material pertaining to the book written by Ernest Hemingway.

 The photo is may or may not of the exact book you are purchasing.  this book is in like mint condition,  I had many books signed by Gregorio as well as LP Photograph albums, Newspapers, other related Hemingway memorabilia.

I guarantee that the signature is 100%  original, it is done in black sharpie.

Fuentes (July 11, 1897 -  January 13, 2002) was a fisherman and the first mate of the pilar - the boat belonging to the American writer Ernest Hemingway.

Fuentes was born on Lanzarote in the, Canary Islands and migrated to Cuba when he was ten years old. In 1938, Fuentes replaced the Pilar's original first mate, Carlos Gutierrez, after Hemingway's mistress, Jane Mason, hired him away to be the first mate of her boat after becoming jealous of Hemingway's relationship with Martha Gellhorn.

Fuentes, a life-long cigar smoker, died from cancer in Cojimar in 2002, never having read The Old Man and the Sea. He was 104 years old.

The Old Man And The Sea

Fuentes is credited by some as a model for Hemingway's protagonist, Santiago, in The Old Man and he Sea, though this is most likely the result of Fuentes' longevity and how he purposefully grew into the incarnation of the role of Santiago for tourists visiting Cojimar.

Hemingway himself stated that Santiago was "based on no one in particular".

That Fuentes worked closely and knew Hemingway very well is undeniable. However, if anyone can claim credit for being the inspiration for Santiago, it was Hemingway's original first mate, Carlos Gutierrez.

Gutierrez had been fishing the Gulf Stream for 40 years and was already an old man when Hemingway first met him. Hemingway would credit the old fisherman with teaching him everything he knew about catching marlin, and credited Gutierrez with telling him the Cuban tales he used as grist to write "On The Blue Water: A Gulf Stream Letter".

Additionally, Hemingway laid out the plot outline for "The Old Man And The Sea" and how Gutierrez's assistance proved vital to the story's creation and evolution in a letter written in February 1939 to his editor, Max Perkins:

Gregorio Fuentes at 100

"One (story) about the old commercial fisherman who fought the swordfish all alone in his skiff for 4 days and four nights and the sharks finally eating it after he had it alongside and could not get into the boat. That's a wonderful story of the Cuban coast. I'm going out with old Carlos in his skiff so as to get it all right. Everything he does and everything he thinks in all that long fight with the boat out of sight of all the other boats all alone on the sea. It's a great story if I can get it right. One that would make the book."

Fuentes would spend his later years charging tourists him $10 or $20 to take his picture and regale them with stories of his domestic partenership with Ernest Hemingway. (Actually it was his grandson who would joke around, telling tourists to always leave Fuentes some money for his cigars)