MARGARET MITCHELL - COLLECTION WITH BRAM STOKER - HFSID 350431
Price: $4,000.00
MARGARET MITCHELL and BRAM STOKER
A unique collection of letters by two legendary authors! This set includes a typed
letter, signed by Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell in 1941, to the wife of
a hospitalized friend. In it, she relates how reading Dracula helped her husband John
Marsh recover from an illness: "Evidently the shock was beneficial, fro he began to
get well the next day." Accompanied by a 1903 handwritten letter by Stoker.
Comprises:
(1) MARGARET MITCHELL. Typed Letter Signed: "Margaret", 2p, 6½ x 9½. Atlanta,
Georgia, 1941 February 13. To Mabel Granberry. In full: "I cannot tell you how joyful
and relieved we were to have your letter of February 11th written from the hospital. I
read your letter at least six times to make sure I wasn't being guilty of wishful thinking.
How good it is to know that Edwin is 'likely to have good vision in both eyes.' What
you and Edwin, Senior and Edwin, Junior must have suffered recently is something I
do not like to contemplate. It seems to me that I have spent years in hospital rooms and
draughty hospital corridors with seriously ill friends and relatives, so I can understand a
little what you have undergone. About 'Dracula,' I intended to telephone you after the
book was mailed and warn you that if you had not read it perhaps you'd better go
through it before you read it to Edwin, Junior. But I got caught at the Red Cross and
never got to a telephone. I am so glad it interested him. I wracked my brain to think of
the kind of book which would take his mind from himself and I recalled that when
John was desperately ill shortly after we were married I gave him 'Dracula.' He was in
a weakened condition and he said 'the book took a holt' on him in so big a way that it
frightened the liver and lights out of him. He said he did not wish the nurses to leave
the room a minute. They though him delirious because he suggested they get garlands of
garlic to keep vampires from him. Evidently the shock was beneficial, fro he began to
get well the next day. The Dowdeys went to Clearwater where both of them had the flu
very badly. In an ailing condition they limped straight back to Richmond and I do not
imagine they they stopped in Orlando. They did not visit us as planned. As to the 'goody
basket' (O, nauseous name!), I tried to pick everything adult and indigestible and also
avoid allergic material. I felt certain you would not be heartless enough to deny Edwin
those strange pickled things which intrigued my curiosity. Give him my love and tell him
not to bother about writing me till he's perfectly well. Best to all of you," Light horizontal
folds. Slightly soiled. Fine condition.
(2) BRAM STOKER. Autograph Letter Signed: "Bram Stoker", 1p, 4¾x6. London, 12
February 1903. To "Dear Mr Rice". In full: "Herewith your tickets with kind regards.
Sincerely". Light horizontal folds. Fine condition.
MARGAERT MITCHELL wrote this February 1941 letter to Mrs. Edwin Granberry,
whose husband was a free-lance book reviewer for the New York Evening Sunat the time
Mitchell published her epic novel, Gone With the Wind(1936). Her remedy of giving
copies of Dracula(1897) by Bram Stoker, who wrote his note in December 1903, was
unusual but seemed to help the hospitalized recipients. Mitchell had married John Marsh
in 1925, shortly before she began her book, and had become friends with the Granberrys after
she wrote thanking him for his review, which appeared on the book's publication day, June
30, 1936. Subsequently, Mitchell's frantic reaction to her overnight success led the Granberrys
to offer refuge at Blowing Rock, North Carolina, the summer campus of Florida's Rollins
College, where he was a Professor of English. A friendship quickly blossomed between the two
couples. While on this visit to the Granberrys, Mitchell agreed to accept $50,000.00 in
movie rights pending contract negotiations with producer David O. Selznick. The film's
and book's success exceeded everyone's expectations, making Gone With the Wind a
major American classic in both mediums. That book and Draculahold the unusual
status of never having been out of print since their first publications.
Besides writing thrilling Gothic mysteries, Abraham "Bram" Stoker worked for famed British
actor Sir Henry Irving and, in this note, arranged for tickets for a performance on the
American tour of Dante. The 1903-1904 tour would be one of the last Irving's company
would make due to the illness and subsequent death of Irving in October 1905. As Irving's
theater manager (1878-1905), Stoker had little time for writing and had spent seven
years in preparing his classic horror tale. Following Irving's death, Stoker failed in health
himself while embarking on a solitary career devoted to writing. He produced an
excellent biography of Irving, which is also the best biography of himself, Personal
Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906). His later books in the horror genre include The Lady
of the Shroud (1909) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911).
Whereas Stoker wrote many stories and novels, with none equaling the impact of
Dracula, Mitchell's remaining life was taken up with publicity repercussions due to the
fame of her only book, Gone With the Wind. She would remain friends with the Granberrys
until her tragic death in 1949, when she was hit by a speeding auto. Her husband, who needed
assistance to walk, had ventured with Mitchell into a street crossing and was unable to walk fast
enough to avoid the oncoming car. Mitchell released him and stepped into the path of the car
which swerved to avoid Marsh. She died from injuries on Peachtree Street in Atlanta,
where so much of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was based. While there is only one
movie of Gone With the Wind, American and foreign film versions of Draculahave
varied considerably throughout cinematic history.
Framed to an overall size of 43½ x 25¾. Frame exhibits minor chips and wearing.
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