HERMAN MELVILLE Extremely rare clipped signature, accompanied by an unsigned postcard photo of the author Signature: "Herman Melville", 4x1 fragment clipped from a letter. 1¾x¼-inch portion torn at lower left blank corner, lightly stained, light show-through from writing (not his) on verso. Overall, fine and rare. Accompanied by unsigned postcard photograph. B/w, 4¼x6. Fine condition. American novelist Herman Melville (1819-1891) first found fame with his romances: Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846) and Omoo, a Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1847). In 1851, his masterpiece, Moby-Dick; or The Whale, dedicated to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, introduced readers to some of literature's most enduring characters -- Captain Ahab, the cabin boy/narrator Ishmael, and Moby Dick, the great white whale. Two items.

MARGARET MITCHELL The year the film version of her Gone with the Wind premiered (1939), Mitchell signed this typed letter, forwarding with skeptical comments a letter she had received. Framed with 2 pictures of Mitchell to an overall size of 29½x18. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 1 page, 5¾x9. Atlanta, Georgia, 1939 May 3. On personal letterhead to "Dear Franklin" [Garrett]. One strike-over and ink correction in her hand. Triple suede matted and framed with two portraits of Mitchell to an overall size of 29½x18. In full: "I am enclosing a letter I recently received [Item not included], for I thought some of the information in it might be of interest to you. Because of the manifold errors in the letter I have doubts as to the lady's statement that her father was the first white child born in Atlanta. You will notice that she says her grandfather had fifteen hundred slaves and the plantation covered the 'whole of Dahlonega County.' I believe at that time there were about five thousand people in the county of which Dahlonega is the seat. However, knowing your interest in such matters, I am passing the letter on to you. Please return it when you have finished reading it.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.Scarce Cabinet Card Photograph signed: "Faithfully yours:/Joel Chandler Harris". Sepia, 4¼x6½ overall, image 4x5¾ (two surfaces). Photographer's imprint beneath image and on verso: "C.W. Motes/Photographer,/No. 34 Whitehall St./Atlanta/GA." In the 1880s, Harris, a former journalist for Georgia newspapers, became one of the first American writers to use original dialects in his stories rooted in Black folklore. His lead character was Uncle Remus, a servant who entertains the young son of his master with tales of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear, animals with distinctly human qualities. His books, which are credited with preserving the African-American heritage of the old South, include Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings (1880), Nights with Uncle Remus (1883) and Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit (1906). Fragile condition. The photo had split, touching the "d" in Chandler. It is repaired by conservator's tape on verso and by encapsulation. Stained on verso. Upper corners chipped, edges worn. Pencil notes on verso (unknown hand).

STEPHEN CRANEThe author of The Red Badge of Courage knew conflict from football, not the battlefield.Rare AQS: "Stephen Crane", 1p, 5½x2¾. In full: "I have never been in a battle, of course, and/I believe that I got my sense of the rage/of conflict on the foot ball field." America's foremost "naturalistic" author had moved to England in 1897. Although he never served in the military, Crane won international acclaim with The Red Badge of Courage,his 1895 book that powerfully told the story of a young soldier during the American Civil War. He later served as a war correspondent, covering the Greco-Turkish War (1897) and the Spanish-American War for foreign newspapers. Crane, who suffered from tuberculosis, died in a German sanitarium at the age of 28. Crane's signature is virtually unobtainable in any form. Fine condition. Accompanied by PSA/DNA LOA.

HERMAN MELVILLE Author Herman Melville wrote this letter to publisher George P. Putnam from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It accompanied a proof of one of his stories. Melville's signature is one of the rarest of all, and handwritten letters by him are highly desirable. Autograph letter signed "H Melville". 1 page, 4¾x7½, with embossing in top left corner. Pittsfield, Massachusetts, dated "Jan 27th". Addressed to George P. Putnam, Esq., 10 Park Place, New York City. In full: "Dear Sir: Re-enclosed is the proof [not included]. Very Truly Yours". We believe this letter was written between 1852 and 1855, when Putnam's publishing company G. Putnam Broadway was based at 1010 Park Place, New York City. Melville published a number of short stories through Putnam's Monthly Magazine during this time, including Bartleby the Scrivener (1853), The Encantadas, or: Enchanted Isles (1854) and Benito Cereno (1855). GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM (1814-1872, born in Brunswick, Maine) published many important American authors, like Melville, through his publishing house of G. Putnam Broadway, which later became G. P. Putnam's Sons.

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.

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.

VOLTAIRE Signed letter from Paris written just weeks before his death in 1778, fearing that hypocritical priests will deny him a church burial. This letter to the Count of Rochefort, written in fine French (fully translated) and in a beautiful hand, shows that the sage had lost none of his mental acuity 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.

MARGARET MITCHELL Typed letter from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of Gone With the Wind, to Edwin Granberry (and wife), who wrote one of the first good reviews of her book. She discusses the up roar of a Dutch publisher bringing Gone With the Wind out in Holland without her consent Typed Letter Signed: "Margaret", 1p, 7x11. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 December 15. On personal letterhead to Edwin and Mabel. In part: "By all means keep 'Co. "Aytch"' as long as you like. Our plans, as usual, are in a snarl. Perhaps you've seen items in the paper about a Dutch publisher bringing out 'Gone With the Wind' in Holland without my consent. I have lost my case in the lower Dutch courts and have appealed. I took the matter to the Department of State in Washington and they are working on it now. That may mean we will have to remain in Atlanta in case we are needed...." "CO. AYTCH", MAURY GRAYS, FIRST TENNESSEE REGIMENT; OR, A SIDE SHOW OF THE BIG SHOW ,published in 1882, was written by Samuel R. Watkins. Watkins, a Confederate private with Co. H, 1st Tennessee Infantry, fought in the western theatre of the war and saw action in most of the major battles in the west.