Books on Gone With the Wind

When I first started collecting GWTW, I wanted everything I could get my hands on. I joined the Gone With the Wind Collector's Club, subscribed to Hollywood Studio Magazine and the Dream Factory of Yesteryear. The best magazine by far was Film Collector's World, a monthly newspaper that had hundreds of ads from people that were like me and collected anything and everything on any movie. If I had money in those days, I would have gladly forked out $25 for an original movie insert or poster to movies that now go for $500 or more.

Herb Bridges did just that. He started collecting GWTW in the 1960s, many years after the original release of the film. He went on to write seven books on the subject and his diverse and unique collection was often "borrowed" for other GWTW books. A part of his collection was donated to the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum in Atlanta, as well as The Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro, GA.

In 2002, Bridges put thousands of items up for auction through Chrisite's auction house. The auction catalog is a goldmine documenting his amazing collection. Original posters and lobby cards, books, newspapers, scripts, costumes, dolls, autographs and more were auctioned to the highest bidders, often in the thousands of dollars.

I find collecting the auction catalogs can be fun too. They are printed in limited runs and are beautifully produced.

This beautiful coffee table book is my all-time favorite of the books about Gone With the Wind. While author Ronald Haver devotes most of the 425 pages to the making of GWTW, the book is about producer David O. Selznick. The book follows Selznick's career, his personal life and the Hollywood stars of yesteryear. With over 1,500 illustrations, photos and art, it is a joy just to flip through casually, or read in-depth.

This 1973 hardcover edition is 238 pages long with black and white photos from the film. Gavin Lambert covers all of the backstory to the film - why Selznick shot the burning of Atlanta before he cast the part of Scarlett and what female stars were in contention for the role of Scarlett. Lambert uses much of the text to guide the reader through the movie itself, scene by scene.

I have a paperback edition of this 1965 biography on Margaret Mitchell. Avon Books published this and an abridged version also appeared in McCall's Magazine at the time. Illustrated with personal photos of Margaret Mitchell's life, Harper's called this, "An astonishing and oddly touching story."

With a forward by GWTW costume designer Walter Plunkett, this paperback edition followed the "inside story to what really happened to the stars of Gone With the Wind." From 1976, this 224-page book is unique as it provides career highlights and personal tidbits of most of the major and minor GWTW players. Here you'll not only find Olivia deHavilland but well-known character actors such as Ward Bond - Tom the Yankee Captain not so famous actors, such as Roscoe Ates, who played a convalescent soldier. The author provides listings of films made prior to GWTW and after.

I love this book. Susan Myrick was brought to the GWTW set as a technical advisor in 1937 by David O. Selznick at the suggestion of Margaret Mitchell. As a fellow newspaperwoman from Georgia, she would keep the movie accurate. It was the desire of Selznick to make sure that the film depict the South authentically, with accents that were believeably (except it seems by the very British Leslie Howard) and dialects correct. She also made sure that the matters of dress were depicted just right.

In the book, she talks about how the GWTW set designers were grandiose compared to reality. During filming, she wrote newspaper columns describing her experiences. These are collected in this 334-page book.

This was one of my first books on the subject of Gone With the Wind. Written by Roland Flamini in 1975, this hardback edition describes the "white elephant that became a classic multi-million dollar box-office smash." Flamini's book puts the film and book into perspective, calling this an "incredible, vast and outrageous story" He interviewed more than 100 members of the cast and crew, combed through three-and-a-half years of movie magazines and newspaper columns of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, and consulted the unpublished letters of Margaret Mitchell to recreate the making of the legend.

I found this book during a pilgramage to the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, GA. Some things you only know exist if you take a trip.

Before Margaret Mitchell wrote her famous novel, she was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal, writing columns for the Sunday Magazine. From 1922 to 1926, Mitchell conducted interviews, wrote articles and book reviews, many of which are reprinted in this book. A fascinating look at Margaret Mitchell's early writings.

Marcella Rabwin was David O. Selznick's executive assistant for 15 years. You've probably seen her interviewed in some of the many retrospectives and documentaries about the making of GWTW. Here she "candidly describes private moments shared with stars from Hollywood's Golden Era." Stars such as Lucille Ball, Carole Lombard, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. Fun bits about witnessing feuds between stars, and personal observations about movie making in the 1930s and 1940s. This book was published posthumously after her death in 1998.

Herb Bridges continued to churn out great books on Gone With the Wind. In 1999, a hardback book about GWTW's three-day premier was released and describes the mega-watt event that took over Atlanta, Georgia.

It was called the "social and cinematic event of the century" and this photographic essay is a tribute to the film and its affect on the country. Photos depict newspapers and advertisements, tickets to balls, parades and dinners. Had Herb Bridges not compiled this into one book, much may have been lost to the general public.

This is a beautiful coffee table style book that has vivid color reprints of the set designs, costume sketches and sketches of the production of GWTW. Reprints of script changes, water color illustrations of scenes and storyboards, and hair and make-up stills make up the 224-page book. Though many movie productions have books now about the making of their films, imagine that that this film was made in 1939 and so many historical documents still exist.

I found this at the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum several years ago. This book is a gem. Author Jane Esdridge apparently found two cardboard boxes of some yellowed copybooks in a house her friend Wailes Thomas had inherited from his mother in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 200 pages of short stories, fairytales, journal entries and essays, found to be written by a young Margaret Mitchell from ages 8 to 17.

What makes these all the more valuable is the fact that Mitchell had ordered all of her personal papers destroyed after her death.

This 1989 hardcover book included an introduction by Daniel Mayer Selznick, son of David O. Selznick and his wife, Irene Mayer, daughter of Louis B. Mayer. This book formed the basis of the documentary, "The Making of a Legend" which can be found on the extended DVDs of the movie. The book features many rare photographs, reprints of tickets, memos, telegrams and other interesting artifacts. Released to commemorate the film's 50th anniversary in 1989.

Quality paperback celebrating Gone With the Wind at its 50th anniversary in 1989. Written by the world's leading Gone With the Wind authority, Herb Bridges. This is a "lavishly illustrated book" that is "the ultimate behind-the-scenes history f the film and the phenomenon." This book includes lots of quotes from the stars and directors and reprints of souvenir programs and memorabilia.

A paperback book on collecting Gone With the Wind. Pauline Bartel is a self-described "Windie Extraordinaire" and describes all the different collectibles available to collectors. She gives tips on what's available, dealers, costs, and more. She is also the author of the Complete Gone With the Wind Trivia Book.

Since this book was released, collecting via the internet has replaced the old mail catalogs and sourcing items through word of mouth. This book does, however, give a good idea of what the vintage collectibles are and what were some of the more current (collector plates, Avon figurines, Barbies, etc.).

This is a 1989 reprint of a 1972 book which takes over-the-top memo-writer David O. Selznick's private letters, telegrams, memorandums and autobiographical remarks and puts it all into one book. The letters give great insight into the mind of the producer, his thoughts and the world of movie-making. Over 36 years of writing has been thoughtfully reproduced in this published account. Complete with photographs.

This paperback looks like someone's thesis report - typed in Courier typeface and considering that it is from 1978, is probably produced with a typewriter. And actually, it is basically an essay written in the first person, giving the author's thoughts about the novel and film.

The archivists at the Humanities Research Center a the University of Texas oversee a special Gone With the Wind exhibition based on the archival documents donated there by the Selznick family. Many of the authors of widely known books on GWTW researched their materials at the HRC. The books details the exhibition.

This is one of the earlier books that included the collection of Herb Bridges, and one of my first GWTW collector books. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the novel, MacMillan Publishing's ads promoting the book, and Margaret Mitchell's history. It features more than 500 photos of movie stills, wardrobe stills and behind-the-scenes studio shots published here for the first time.

This hardcover book with a metallic cover is actually very informative and though it rehashes the same history, the authors show statistics, fan magazine covers and clippings, movie ads and more. There are a lot of fun facts and behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Of special interest are chapters on the box office rivals from 1939 and a by the numbers list, such as there were 200 sets designed but 90 constructed. Fifty-three buildings were erected to recreate the city of Atlanta. There were 2,400 extras and bit players.

The Tara Treasury is a treasure.

This is a hardbound photographic essay of Gone With the Wind written by the definitive collector, Herb Bridges. My copy is even signed as I purchased this directly from him. With over 1,000 photographs, this essay illustrates the day-to-day activities on the set of GWTW. There are photos of old southern plantations that inspired the set designers, both interior and exterior. It appears the producers went into a lot of detail to make sure something like Bonnie Blue Butler's baby carriage was accurately depicted.

Richard Harwell, known as the "foremost authority on Gone With the Wind" gathers significant writings on the book, film and author, Margaret Mitchell. He was a personal acquaintance of Mitchell and has studied the GWTW phenomena for years. The book is separated by four sections. The first records the reception of the book by the book world in 1936. The second is about how Mitchell's life was changed drastically. The third looks at some theological, political and psychiatric aspects of the book's impact. The last section details the creation of the book into film.

One of my favorite biographers took on Margaret Mitchell in this 1983 biography of her life. Mitchell's backstory parallels that of her Scarlett in many ways, and the people in her life became many of the familiar characters. She was a rebel, and her love story with John Marsh is one for the ages.

This is one of Herb Bridges' earlier books on Gone With the Wind - more of a booklet than a book. Photos show scenes, main characters and captions.

This is the colorful paperback motion picture edition of Margaret Mitchell's novel, published in December 1939 to coincide with the movie's premiere. What is interestng about this edition is the use of color technicolor-type photos.

This is a hardback version of the motion picture edition, similar to the paperback version. Unlike the paperback edition, the cover does not feature Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Rhett, rather artwork. In the Publisher's Preface, the MacMillan Company touts that more than two million copies of GWTW were sold before the appearance of this particular edition and it is estimated that more than 10 million have read this story of the Old South. There are also three pages which the MacMillan Company "proudly presents" of the makers and players of the picturization of Gone With the Wind.

Every 10 years, Gone With the Wind is re-released as an anniversary edition, and every time,, the book is read by new generations of fans. I bought this beautiful edition at ... Costco!