MARGARET MITCHELL - COLLECTION WITH KENNETH LITTAUER - HFSID 300322

MARGARET MITCHELL and KENNETH LITTAUER
Unsigned 1942 typed letter from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, to Edwin Granberry, who wrote one of the first good reviews of her book. In it, she discusses how the war was affecting her and her friends, including Granberry, who was considering joining the Navy, Collier's literary editor Kenneth Littauer and critic Herschell Brickell. A fascinating letter with numerous references to Mitchell's wartime activities and circle of literary friends! Accompanied by an undated letter to Granberry by Littauer.
Typed fragment unsigned. Black ink corrections in unknown hand. 1 page, 7¼x10½, on Mitchell's personalized stationery. Atlanta, Georgia, Nov. 12, 1942. In full: "Dear Mabel and Edwin: 'Yours received and contents noted and enclosure filed.' Much obliged for sending the 'en-closure.' We were so happy to have news of the Granberry, even if it took a mortgage to bring forth the information. We had wondered and worried about the effect of the war on Rollins College, for we know what was happening to other colleges. We thought Rollins had the advantage over Georgia institutions of learning because, at least, you didn't have Gov-ernor Talmage getting Rollins off accredited lists, as well as the war making inroads on students and faculty. To tell the truth, Edwin, we had not thought of you going into the service, because of the size of the Granberry family. If it does not turn out that you eventually go into the naval reserve, please try to be stationed here at the enormous, storm-swept port of Atlanta. One of the foolishest [sic] things about this present war is that this inland city has become a naval base. At old Camp Gordon there is the naval air base and Georgia Tech has a naval unit. Couldn't you try to get in the Georgia Tech navy? I know it's unpatriotic of me to want you to be here when the Government might want you somewhere else, but the Government has taken away all the Atlanta people we know and I think it only fair the Government should send us at least one friend to take their places. Seriously, we hope that if you do get into the serv-ice you'll be stationed somewhere closer to us than Winter Park. In these peculiar days, the desire to see and hold on to friends we low is stronger than ever, for there are few enough unchanging things now and it is well to cherish those we have. I know what a violent dislocation it will be in the lives of all of you if you should go into the service, so it is certainly something to which serious thought must be given. Please let us know if you are called up." Lightly toned and creased. Multiple mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition. Accompanied by: Typed fragment unsigned. 2 pages, 7¾x11, single-sided, photocopies. Facsimile signature on page 2: "Margaret". Typed notations at top of edge page: "(N.B. The original of this page has been lost.J.Granberry.5 Sept.1980). 2) Autograph letter signed "Kenneth Littauer". 1 page, 5 ¼ x 8 ½, on Collier's letterhead. Dated "Thursday". In full: "Dear Granberry - This is to thank you and Mrs. Granberry for your hospitality. Also to tell you how grateful I am for your helpfulness. It isn't every-body who would go to such lengths to produce a piece of merchandise to suit. Hope the work is progressing easily and to your satisfaction. Sincerely". Lightly toned and creased. Show-through from rust stains on verso touch body of letter. Rust stains and staple holes at top edge. Otherwise in fine condition. EDWIN GRANBERRY (1897-1988), a freelance book reviewer and critic, wrote a glowing and unprecedented 1,200-word review of Gone with the Wind in the New York Evening Sun on June 30, 1936, the day of the book's publication. Mitchell had been so impressed by the report, which compared her book to Tolstoy's War and Peace, that she had written to thank him. Mitchell first met Granberry in person at a 1936 writers' retreat at the Blowing Rock School of English in North Carolina, the summer campus of Rollins College, where Granberry was an instructor. She and her husband, John Marsh, became close friends with Edwin and his wife, Mabel, and they corresponded regularly. KENNETH LITTAUER, who died in 1968, was the fiction editor at Collier's and a New York literary agent whose clients included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut and James Salter. Littauer was also one of the early sponsors of the Civil Air Patrol. "Herschell"is possibly HERSCHELL BRICKELL (1889-1952), literary critic at the New York Evening Post who also gave Gone With the Wind a favorable review. Mitchell had met Brickellat the same retreat that she met Granberry. She had written to him at the same time she had written to Granberry, and, as with Granberry, continued her correspondence with him. Brickell later wrote for the U. S. State Department; among the books he wrote was What the South Americans Think of Us, written with Carleton Beals, Samuel Guy Inman and Bryce Oliver. JOHN MARSH was the husband of Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell from 1925 until her death in 1949. Marsh, a professor of English and philosophy at University of Kentucky-Henderson Community College, played an important role in the writing of Gone With the Wind. After his wife was rendered bedridden after a 1926 accident, Marsh suggested that she write a novel, then continually edited her manuscript and offered key ideas and advice. Interestingly, Marsh had been Mitchell's suitor before she married her first husband, ex-footballer and bootlegger Berrien "Red" Upshaw, in 1924. Her stormy marriage to Upshaw ended in divorce, and she married Marsh, an editor at the Atlanta Journal Sunday Journal, where she worked. He later became director of Georgia Power Company's advertising department. MARGARET MITCHELL (1900-1949), a native of Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded the 1937 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for Gone With the Wind, her epic novel set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction South. At first uncertain about her book's literary merit, she had submitted her manuscript to Macmillan Company in 1935. Mitchell was stunned - and thrust into the public spotlight - when the book sold over 1.3 million copies in its first year. Gone With the Wind remained on the best-seller list for 21 weeks, enjoying a resurgence in sales with the release of the Oscar-winning 1939 film based on the novel. Two Items.