MARGARET MITCHELL - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/25/1937 - HFSID 55686

MARGARET MITCHELL
The author writes of winning the Pulitzer Prize and "the untiring efforts of strangers and chance acquaintances to exploit me...."
TLS: "Margaret", 1¼p, 7x11, separate sheets. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 May 25. To Edwin. In part: "I have intended answering your letter long before this, but the Pulitzer Award stirred up things again and I have been rather busy. I just wanted to tell you and Mabel to think nothing of the School of English folder. Knowing you two as I do, I know that you had nothing to do with it, and I appreciate your efforts to keep it from being printed. I intended to write Doctor Grover immediately but things were in such a jam that I could not. I am writing him today and I think I will make myself very plain. One of the worst features about the last year has been the untiring efforts of strangers and chance acquaintances to exploit me for their own benefit. Speaking conservatively, it has taken twenty-four hours a day trying to keep them from doing it. For the most part my efforts in this direction have been crowned with success. Occasionally, as in Doctor Grover's case, they have not. It is surprising how persistent people are in the face of rebuffs. Perhaps, however, my raising has been that such people of that type do not realize they are being rebuffed. The time has come for me to arm myself for the fray, and I have decided to use for my weapon a short handled croquet mallet. John held out for a niblick, but I think everyone should choose the weapon they can handle best. But don't you and Mabel bother about it all. You two have been so grand to me that I don't like to think of you being worried...." EDWIN GRANBERRY was the first to review MARGARET MITCHELL's epic novel, Gone With The Wind. He and his wife became close friends with the author and her husband, JOHN MARSH, the "John" mentioned in this letter. Mitchell's book, published in 1936, became an instant best-seller and was purchased by producer David O. Selznick for $50,000, the most ever paid for a first novel at the time. In 1937, the book received the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, and life continued to remain "stirred up" for Mitchell, largely due to the hype surrounding the film version of Gone With The Wind. Mitchell was a popular attraction at the premiere, which was held in Atlanta in 1939. The film, which has become a classic, broke box office records and garnered ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Minor stains at blank areas. Lightly creased. Fine condition.