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Margaret Mitchell

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Margaret Mitchell

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Auction Date:2014 Nov 12 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
TLS signed “Peggy,” one page, 7.25 x 11, personal letterhead, May 5, 1937. Letter to director George Cukor, who at the time was slated to direct the Gone With the Wind film. In part: “The tempo of life has quickened incredibly…You have probably noticed new items about the suit of plagiarism against 'Gone With the Wind.' It is all foolishness, but still, as you can realize, it will be troublesome, annoying and expensive. While I do not know yet upon what the old lady is basing her claim, I feel that I will probably have to produce all my references for 'Gone With the Wind' to defend my book against her claims. This is why I'm asking you to return the four books I lent you…‘Social Life in New Orleans' by Eliza Ripley, 'Hospital Life' by Kate Cummings, 'Four Years in Rebel Capitals' by DeLeon, 'Memories' by Fannie Beers. I hope that you have already skimmed what little cream there may be in these books…I follow your progress with great interest through my clipping bureau, and of course I am waiting with as much eagerness as any other movie fan the results of your auditions…I still get a few letters and refer the people on to you. Several pictures sent to me seemed to have possibilities as the young ladies not only were pretty but appeared to have intelligence." In a handwritten postscript, Mitchell adds: "P.S. The five dollars you sent me for the book has just arrived. Thanks." In fine condition.

This not only presents an outstanding association between the author and director-to-be (though Cukor was fired after a few weeks of filming), but also offers excellent insight into Mitchell’s extensive research process in preparing Gone With the Wind, and references one of the lesser known but most intriguing plot twists in the novel’s biography. In the spring of 1937 while Gone With the Wind stood atop the bestseller list, a 76-year-old woman named Susan Lawrence Davis—who claimed to be a descendant of Jefferson Davis—filed a plagiarism suit against Macmillan for similarities between Mitchell's novel and her nonfiction historical work from 1924 titled Authentic History of the Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877, which had been a commercial failure. Absurdly litigious, Lawrence had previously lodged plagiarism complaints against an American ambassador, the Atlanta Journal, and the New York Times for allegedly omitting her citation. Her 461-page complaint sought what amounted to $6.5 billion in damages, alleging hundreds of plagiaristic instances in basic references to historical people, places, and events mentioned in both Gone With the Wind and her Authentic History of the Ku Klux Klan—these included the names and phrases Freedman's Bureau, General Wade Hampton, General John B. Gordon, scalawags, carpetbaggers, and federal commissioners. She was similarly upset by the fact that the book was bound in Confederate gray, the same color fabric used for the Authentic History. Fighting the charges took some time and energy on Mitchell's part, but the case was eventually dismissed at federal court in New York in late July.