The 30 Minute Rule begins September 16 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By September 16 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
TLS signed in pencil, “M.,” one page, 7 x 11, personal letterhead, November 14, 1937. Letter to critic Herschel Brickell, in full: “Almost within the hour I finished my last letter to you, Steve and I were on the train, bound for Washington on a very serious matter (nothing to do with taxes!) which I'll tell you about later when what's going to develope has developed. We stayed two hours and returned and I got in at dawn this morning.
I found a letter from Helen D., the first I had had in some while. Among other items of news, was an item I found disquieting. She said that Norma wasn't well at all and that you hadn't been any too well yourself. Of course, you'd written me that Norma was feeling poorly some weeks ago, but, hearing nothing else, I had hoped that it was a temporary indisposition and that she was now doing fine. And what about you? You've said nothing of being sick.
Now, do not chide Helen for writing this news to me. Her worry grew out of the affection she and Clifford have for you and she thought I'd like to know. I can only hope she is unduly worried. Write and tell me how you both are.
Now, I must go and get some sleep. This has been the wildest thirty six hours of my life. I never dreamed I could run a quarter of a mile in a heavy wool dress, burdened with a heavier fur coat and weighed down with bundles, papers, etc. but I did it and Steve and I caught the train while it was moving. Dear God, the strange places I've been, on a moments notice, in this last year and the strange people I've seen!” In fine condition.
Written in November 1937, this letter to noted critic Herschel Brickell finds Mitchell at the height of the Gone with the Wind phenomenon. Published the previous year and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, the novel had transformed its reluctant author into a national celebrity. Mitchell alludes to an urgent trip to Washington on “a very serious matter (nothing to do with taxes!),” but the most revealing passage comes at the close of the letter, where she reflects on the upheaval of the preceding year after racing to catch a moving train: “This has been the wildest thirty six hours of my life…Dear God, the strange places I've been, on a moments notice, in this last year and the strange people I've seen!” An engaging glimpse of Mitchell grappling with the demands and disruptions that accompanied the unprecedented success of Gone with the Wind.
From the personal collection of a lifelong collector, teacher, and traveler with a passion for world history. His collecting years ranged from the 1970s to the present day, meaning that several of the premier pieces have not been on the market in decades.
