JOHN STEINBECK This contract signed by the American author authorized a German production of Of Mice and Men Typewritten contract signed: "John Steinbeck", 2p, 7½x12½ New York, New York, 1946 June 3. John Steinbeck signed this contract, dated June 3, 1946, allowing German-speaking actors to perform Of Mice and Men, his 1937 novelette featuring the tragic characters of Lennie and George, two migrant laborers. The work had been chosen by the Book-of-the-Month Club and quickly became a best seller, sparking both Broadway's and Hollywood's interest in adapting it into a play. While writing Of Mice and Men in 1936, Steinbeck was growing increasingly interested in the theater, believing it to be the best medium to reach the common working man. In fact, Steinbeck actually wrote the book with the intention of making it a novel/play - a novel which could be performed as it was without needing to be revised for the stage. However, this experiment failed, and Steinbeck was forced to adapt it - his first attempt at writing a screen play. He was advised and encouraged by dramatist George S. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL Her typed and signed 1937 letter upon learning that Gone With the Wind had won the Pulitzer Prize, addressed to the literary critic who had first predicted that it would, framed with her picture in the Gallery of History style to 30x22. Typed Letter Signed: "Margaret", 1 page, 6½x10. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 May 4. To Mabel and Edwin Granberry. In full: "Your telegram has just arrived and thank you so very much for it. As soon as I got the news last night I thought of you two and Herschel at the table last summer when you predicted it and I laughed so hard my glasses fell into the gravy. Naturally, this is a happy day for me and a wire like yours adds greatly to my happiness." Typed note by Granberry at lower margin: "(NOTE: GONE WITH THE WIND had just won the Pulitzer Prize. - E.G.)". MARGARET MITCHELL (1900-1949) had won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, Gone With the Wind, the day before she wrote this letter. Mitchell, who had begun writing her epic about the Civil War and Reconstruction South in 1926, finally submitted her manuscript to Macmillian Company in 1935. 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...

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...

MARGARET MITCHELL Writing to friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry, she complains of the constant invasions of her privacy following publication of Gone With the Wind; Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 1 page, 7¼x10½. No place, no date, but undoubtedly written from her home in Atlanta in the late in the late 1930s, before the appearance of the film. On personal letterhead to Edwin and Mabel Granberry in full: "I've been intending to write to you for a long time - but you see how far my wants have gotten me. The reason was that when I went to N. Y. to see about the movie contract, my over strained eyes practically gave up the ghost. Herschel B [Brickell, a friendly literary critic], loaded me on the train in a bad way and since that time (up until a week ago) I've been lying in a dark room with a black bandage over my eyes. No, there's nothing seriously wrong and I'm writing you all to tell you so far already the rumor is out that I've gone blind. I wouldn't like for you to hear that and not know the truth. My eyes just needed a rest and so did I. Now I have new glasses and can see very well. It may be some time before I can do any reading or writing but I'm glad enough at being out of the dark. read more...

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. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL She writes to close friend and fellow author Edwin Granberry about his new play, and mentions several prominent US actors and writers, including Alexander Woolcott and the Lunts. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 2 pages (front and verso), 7¼x10½. Atlanta, Georgia, 1941 February 3. On personal letterhead to "Dear Edwin and Mabel" [Granberry], in full: "The combination of Bretaigne Windust and Roual Pene duBois gave us as much delight as it did you. The show can't hep being 120 proof with two such names. I was inclined to agree with Frank Sullivan to agree with Frank Sullivan, however, and will have to see these two gentlemen myself before I believe in their names. We were so happy and proud at the good news and hope you will have time to keep us posted on progress. Naturally, we are bursting to know what the Lunts think. I am sorry they are on tour now because that will probably delay their decision, as their time is pretty well occupied with long jumps and one-night stands. Do I understand that the interest of Mr. W. and Mr. DuB. Means that someone has bought the play or intends to produce it if they can get the right stars? We hope so ardently for the Lunts and can hardly wait to know what happens. read more...

ERNEST HEMINGWAY He signs an autograph note replying positively to a request to send a fundraising letter in his name. Autograph note signed: "Ernest Hemingway" at lower margin of a typed letter signed: "Abner Green", 1 page, 8¼x14. New York, 1939 December 21. On letterhead of Fourth Annual Conference for the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, listing Hemingway and Dr. William Allan Neilson as Co-Chairmen, Committee of Sponsors. Hemingway's note, in full: "Enclosed signed letter. [Not present]. Haven't any money yet because writing on this novel since 1st of March. Turned down all other work. Wish me luck. I hope everything goes well with the committee." Green's letter, in full: "Dear Hemingway:-It's the usual thing. We've got our Conference under way - and without doubt you must have read about it in the Times and other papers. We've got enough moral support to make us feel like David with his sling-shot. And then there comes the question of money. Honestly, I wouldn't bother you if the matter of money weren't so damned important. read more...

MARGARET MITCHELL The year she received the Pulitzer Prize for Gone With the Wind, she writes of fending off law suits, including a plagiarism suit, and desires to visit friends in Florida only if her visit can be kept secret from reporters and autograph seekers. Typed Letter signed: "Margaret", 2 pages(front and verso), 7¼x11. Atlanta, Georgia, 1937 July 27. On personal letterhead to ""Dear Mabel and Edwin", [Granberry], in full: "If your offer of hospitality still holds good I would like to come to visit you two for three days, preferably around the end of this week (arriving Saturday the 31st or Sunday the 1st). However, if this date is not convenient to you for any reason, please do not hesitate to tell me so and to fix your own dates. John will not be able to come with me. His own work at his office is very heavy at present and my business affairs which he is handling at night show no signs of slacking. We have two new lawsuits in addition to the plagiarism suit! I'll tell you about them when I see you. I think I know you two well enough to ask for frankness. Please tell me (1) just when it will be read more...