RICHARD BARKSDALE HARWELL (1915-1988) was a Georgia librarian and a renowned bibliographer, best known for Georgiana: A Selection of a Dozen Collectible Georgia Books.
Offering a 3 ½ x 5 ½, April 16, 1980, ALS to Van Allen Bradley concerning, in part, Margaret Mitchell’s classic Gone with the Wind. Bradley was, at the time, Literary Editor of the Chicago Daily News. The letter contains two topics: side one deals mainly with the publication of Georgiana and Harwell’s concerns about it. He did not get to oversee the final publication. Side two deals – more importantly – with some bibliographic issues concerning early printings of Gone with the Wind. Harwell lists specific points and publication issues. Harwell was noted for his scholarship and this is an important letter for those researching the publishing history of Gone with the Wind.
Regarding Gone with the Wind, he writes, “...In the first edition (May 1936) Saint Cecilia on p. 240 at l. 36 is wrongly spelled Saint Cecelia. On p. 937 at l. 19 [cornered was misspelled]. On page 504 at l. 10, trashy is ok in the first printing. But the June printing its y had lost its tail and appeared to be trashv. MM [author Margaret Mitchell] sent in connections early in July but new printings were being made so fast that the corrections were not made till the 9th printing, in August. Concerning the [dust] jacket: The first lists Macmillan Spring Novels in the back two columns of eight titles, each with one centered at end, a total of 17 titles. The first is Sparbenbroke. GWTW is second in column two. I know of no other jacket that was distributed in May 1936. I know that much later some undistributed jackets were owned by a book dealer and were supplied for jacketless books, but if it was a variant, I don’t know, having never seen it. Best, Rick
“PS: My copy of GWTW was inscribed to me by MM [Margaret Mitchell] and dated May 23, 1936...It was the first book I ever reviewed for other than student publications.”
In excellent condition. Includes cover. A wonderful piece of Gone with the Wind history.
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