MARGARET MITCHELL Mitchell, always shy about the spotlight on her following Gone With the Wind, confides to friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry that "it is tempting fate to ever write a book or a play. If you do, everything except a plague of grasshoppers arrives." Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 2 pages (front and verso), 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1941 November 11. On personal letterhead to "Dear Mabel and Edwin" [Granberry], in full: "We were very distressed to learn of your illness, Mabel, and I was glad to see Fred Hanna at a party Sunday night and learn that you really were up and about. Don't you think you Granberrys have managed all the plagues of Egypt now? I never knew any family, except us, to have as much trouble. (And, as Michael Arlen remarked in 'The Green Hat,' 'the Marches are never let off of anything.') Things are well with us now but I remember, with no pleasure, the first five years we were married when everyone in our family seemed to have something happen to them. Perhaps it is something all couples must go through with, but I hope the Granberrys are really through now. Edwin, you know it is tempting fate to ever try to write a book or a play. read more...

DASHIELL HAMMETT Photo of the author, inscribed on the mount with his extremely rare dual signature, "Dashiell Hammett/The Thin Man." Rare Photograph Mount inscribed and signed: "To Joe -/Dashiell Hammett/The Thin Man/July 13, 1938". B/w, 8x10 overall, image 5x7 (two surfaces). Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) was a private detective for eight years before becoming a detective story writer. Although he wrote only five novels, he created three of the most memorable characters in crime fiction: detective Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1930) and detectives Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man two years later. Later a Hollywood screenwriter, Hammett was also known for his left-wing politics and his 30-year romance with writer Lillian Hellman. Hammett autographs are scarce in any form. Those incorporating "The Thin Man" are rare and desirable. Mount slightly soiled. Ink notes (unknown hand) on verso. Photo lightly creased with pinhead-size surface nicks. Mounting adhesive visible at corners of photo and at upper blank background. Overall, fine condition. read more...

[SAMUEL CLEMENS] FREDERICK W. PEABODY Remarkable document! A copy of the Christian Science Church Manual, signed by its owner, Peabody, with handwritten notes by Mark Twain, who used it in preparing his famous 1907 polemic against Mary Baker Eddy and the church she founded. Book signed: "Frederick W. Peabody/Notations by Mark Twain" on title page, 95 pages, 5¼x7¼, hardcover. Church Manual of the First Church of Christ Scientist by Mary Baker G. Eddy, The Christian Science Publishing Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 1899, 11th Edition. Label affixed to front cover: "Church Manual of the First Church of Christ/Mark Twain's Copy With Annotations". This book, which belonged to Peabody, has been annotated by Clemens, the noted author and lecturer who was known for his efforts to debunk frauds - especially those whom he deemed as religious charlatans. FREDERICK W. PEABODY has been described as a "detached or critical" biographer of Mary Baker Glover Eddy. SAMUEL L. CLEMENS, popularly known as "Mark Twain", directed his scorn toward both Mrs. Eddy and her religion in his 1907 book, Christian Science read more...

VOLTAIRE Signed autograph letter from Paris written just weeks before his death in 1778, fearing that hypocritical priests will deny him a church burial. The letter, written in fine French (fully translated here) in a beautiful hand to the Count of Rochefort, shows that the sage had lost none of his mental acuity Autograph Letter signed: "V", 2 pages (integral leaf) 4½x7 folded, 9x7 open flat. Paris, 1778 April 16. To the Comte de Rochefort. In French, fully translated: "I must apologize for having written so formally to Madame Dix-Neuf Ans ["Nineteen Years"]. I apologize for taking so long to thank you for your pleasant letter, sir, but I have had lately a very violent fever, following two fatal illnesses from which I escaped. I think that Monsieur the Abbey of Beauregard, preacher of Versailles, so-called former Jesuit, would willingly refuse me a burial, which is very unfair, because they say that I would not ask for more than to bury him; and he owes me, it seems, the same courtesy. I do not think whatsoever that the master and mistress of the house mocked this abbey of Beauregard. read more...

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS Archive of 16 letters written by Tarzan's creator to his son Jack between 1923 and 1935, plus one letter from Burroughs to a film company. He writes in depth about family matters, but also about the filming of a Tarzan movie. The letters are signed "Papa" or "OB" (Old Burroughs). A rare insight into the private and public life of the prolific author. Collection comprised of 1) Autograph Letter signed: "Papa", 1 page, 8½x11. North Platte, Nebraska, 1923 February 16. To "Dear Jack", in full: "We are just leaving North Platte, Nebr. The train shakes so that I cannot draw very well. I couldn't if it didn't shake at all, so what's the difference. Did I tell you that I found your valentine in my grip? The one of the lady kicking. That must be the way she feels before breakfast. I wired ahead for reservations on the Broadway Limited on the Pennsylvania RR so we will arrive in New York at 9:40 Sunday morning. It will be nice & wintry and cold out. The air feels & tastes & smells good. Love & kisses to my dear children." At the top of this letter Burroughs has drawn a four-panel cartoon featuring his sons Jack and Hulbert. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL Letter to fellow author and literary booster Edwin Granberry, accepting congratulations for her Pulitzer Prize but expressing a desire to preserve at least a little personal privacy. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 1 page, 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 May 12. On personal letterhead to ""Dear Edwin", [Granberry], in full: "That was certainly a grand, long letter and John and I appreciated it immediately. Thanks again for the congratulations about the Award. I am just beginning to come up for air and realizing that it is really true. Since the news came so much has happened - flashlights going off, reporters slithering out of the cracks in the floor and the house full of people - that I have had no chance to really think. One of the nice features of the affair was that Harold Latham, who dug up the book, just happened to be in Atlanta on the day the Award was announced. He gave me a party complete with newspaper friends, as many orchids as a Kentucky Derby winner and barrels of Champaigne. While you and Herschel kept telling me last summer that it would undoubtedly work out this way, I just couldn't believe it. read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Handwritten 1936 manuscript intended for publication in Esquire magazine, vividly describing the horrors of war, with his third person signature in the text Autograph Manuscript signed in text: "Mr. Ernest Hemingway" in pencil, 1 page, 8½x11. No place, c. 1936. Headed by him: "Please Mr. Ernest Hemingway by Paul Harris, The American Criterion, Dec 1935, about 'letters' appearing monthly in Esquire...." Ernest Hemingway was a frequent contributor to "Esquire" magazine. He wrote a total 31 "letters" which were published in "Esquire" in the 1930s. In the September 1935 issue, he wrote: "Notes on the Next War: A Serious Topical Letter". This may be a rough draft of one of the 31 "letters". Hemingway has made an "X", crossing out the entire letter. In part: "Mr. Hemingway, you were at the front. You saw people die? I was ten and I saw people, I saw something in them die and they had to go on making believe they were alive still with their guts out of them. I saw people age. I saw the unseeable, the drawn faces, the haunted eyes...A child is sensitive to change in those he knows [he is referring to an aunt, a cousin, involved in changes resulting from life in wartime]. read more...

IN 1957, THE "KING OF THE BEAT GENERATION", "RARING TO TYPE BUT NO TYPEWRITER", ASKS HIS GIRLFRIEND TO SEND HIM REVIEWS OF HIS JUST-RELEASED ON THE ROAD   JACK KEROUAC. Rare ALS: "Jack" in pencil on verso of 5½x3½ 2-cent postcard. [Orlando, Florida 1957 October 14]. To his girlfriend, writer Joyce Glassman (later, Johnson). In full: "Dear Jerce-sweetheart-did you go out with Henri & Bob to celebrate Bold Ruler's victory in the 7th at Belmont?-I've just used all my penny postcards answering ALL my fan letters-Please lend me Al Hendricks POST & Others that I forgot in packing, I'll send them back...my mother doesnt (sic) believe anything....send reviews with mail-I slept & slept & FEEL GREAT-raring to type but no typewriter...play in my mind burning....My mother & I decided to move back to L.I. before Spring so I'll see you all the time-WRITE!" Handwritten postscript at right margin: "P.S. Important-I found missing notebook in my things, tell Lou-" At left margin, Kerouac has written: "Tell Leo send rolls C.O.D. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL Pleased that friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry is writing again, she shares with him her relief that the frenzy over the movie version of her book has abated with the outbreak of war: "The world has far more important things to think about these days than me." Several other literary notables are mentioned in this letter. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 3 pages, 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1940 September 23. To "My dear Mabel and Edwin [Granberry], you varmint". In part: "Here I've gone around feeling blue ever since I had the last news of you (Edwin) that you had given up any notion of writing any more. I had thought about what a waste of talent it was and had heroically restrined myself from writing and telling you so. Then, a month ago, vague rumors began trickling into my ears at parties that you were writing again. Don't ask me who told me because I don't know. I go places and meet two hundred strangers in thirteen and a half minutes, and some of them say, 'Oh, do you know Edwin Granberry who is doing some writing?' and before I could catch them they would disappear and twelve more strange faces would stand before me. read more...