Signed book: Gone With the Wind. Later printing. NY: The Macmillan Company, 1938. Hardcover, 6 x 8.75, 1037 pages. Signed on the first free end page in fountain pen by eight of the film's principal cast members: Alicia Rhett, Jane Darwell, Leslie Howard, Vivien Leigh, Hattie McDaniel, Clark Gable, Leona Roberts (who adds "Mrs. Meade" after her signature), and Olivia de Havilland. In addition, Annie Laurie (Margaret Mitchell's literary agent, who negotiated the sale of the story's film rights to David O. Selznick), Fuller Kurtz (wife of Wilbur Kurtz), and Wilbur G. Kurtz (who adds "Technical Adviser - GWTW. Oct. 29, 1939" after his signature) have signed at the bottom of that page. Autographic condition: fine, with light edge toning to the signed page. Book condition: VG-/None, with edgewear and rubbing to boards, and a presentation inscription ("To Aunt Lil, from Shona") to the front pastedown. Housed in a custom-made clamshell case.
This later printing of Margaret Mitchell's enduring Southern novel, published two years after the first (in May 1936), has been signed by all the main cast members of the 1939 film adaptation, including Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara, and Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African American to win an Academy Award when she won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mammy.
As the New York Times Book Review wrote in 1936: 'This is beyond doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best… It has been a long while since the American public has been offered such a bounteous feast of excellent story-telling.' Said to be the fastest-selling novel in the history of American publishing (50,000 copies in a single day), Gone With the Wind won Mitchell the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The film adaptation was produced by David O. Selznick and was directed by Victor Fleming. The production was troubled, and the start of filming was delayed for two years until January 1939 because of Selznick's determination to secure Clark Gable for the role of Rhett Butler. The film received positive reviews upon its release in December 1939, and the cast was widely praised. That year the movie received ten Academy Awards from 13 nominations, including wins for Best Picture, Best Director (Fleming), Best Adapted Screenplay (posthumously awarded to Sidney Howard), Best Actress (Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel). Immensely popular when first released, Gone with the Wind became the highest-grossing film made up to that point, a record it held for over a quarter of a century.
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