perhaps hire to help with the project and he phrases it very carefully and very politely. reporter: thomas edison s first patent application for the light bulb. just doesn t get better than that. reporter: it does. this letter from a financially strapped earnest hemingway writing from cuba. writing on a real angle. you have to tilt your head and probably it s because he was tilting the bottle and says i don t know what we ll use for money this year. mango mangos, maybe. reporter: why he used the name buck in call of the wild. all here. no budget to bid? not to worry. you ve seen it here first, but if you want more, the exhibit is on display starting next week. jason carroll, cnn, new york. and speaking of the historic, this image just raked in a lot of money at auction. we re talking a record-breaking amount.