February 2024: Villains

Villains ran amok during the February 2024 meeting.  Collectors were asked to bring their favorite bad guys and worse women.  Most of the books shown are better known for their villains than their protagonists.

Many of the books shown have been adapted to film, and three of these villains have earned their way onto the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains list.  The AFI defines a villain as "a character whose wickedness of mind, selfishness of character, and will to power are sometimes masked by beauty and nobility, while others may rage unmasked.  They can be horribly evil or grandiosely funny but are ultimately tragic."

The blog begins with the villains who appear on the AFI Top 50 Villains list—Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Mrs. Danvers, and Harry Lime—then considers some other equally reprehensible characters, both fictional and real.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer.  He is novelist Thomas Harris's titular antagonist of the Hannibal Lecter tetralogy, Red Dragon (1981), The Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal (1999), and Hannibal Rising (2006).  Lecter is captured at the beginning of Red Dragon but deviously helps the protagonists of Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs capture other serial killers before he kills a guard, escapes, and resumes his own killing spree in Hannibal.  Lecter's origin story and the childhood trauma which formed the cannibalistic killer is told in Hannibal Rising.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is ranked #1 as the Greatest Villain of all time by the American Film Institute's Top 50 Villains.

The Silence of the Lambs

Harris, Thomas.  The Silence of the Lambs.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988.  First edition.  Lecter, locked in a maximum-security facility in a mental institution while serving nine consecutive life sentences for murder, is visited by Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, covertly attempting to get Lecter to provide a profile of an active serial killer, "Buffalo Bill."  Lecter offers cryptic clues in exchange for personal information from Starling about her painful past.  Their strange relationship results in the capture of Buffalo Bill but also creates an opportunity for Lecter to escape.  The Silence of the Lambs won the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.  The film adaptation won the 1991 Academy Award for Best Picture.

Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca

Mrs. Danvers is the domineering housekeeper of Manderley, the country estate of Maxim de Winter.  She was the family maid to Rebecca, Maxim's first wife who supposedly died in a sailing accident.  Mrs. Danvers remains profoundly devoted to Rebecca and is determined to preserve and protect her memory.  She resents Maxim's new wife, whom he married less than a year after Rebecca's death, and seeks to undermine her at every step.  When her sinister efforts appear fruitless, she apparently burns Manderley to the ground, preferring to destroy the house rather than allow the new Mrs. de Winter to make it her home.

Mrs. Danvers is ranked as the 31st Greatest Villain by the American Film Institute's Top 50 Villains.

Rebecca

de Maurier, Daphne.  Rebecca.  Franklin Center, PA: The Franklin Library, 1988.  Maxim de Winter returns from abroad with his new bride to his mansion, Manderley, where Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, quicky takes a dislike to the new Mrs. de Winter.  She psychologically torments the woman by acclaiming how Rebecca, the previous Mrs. de Winter, ran the house, preventing her from making any changes to the home.  Mrs. Danver's tricks the Mrs. de Winter into enraging her husband and then tries to get her to commit suicide.  Her scheme is interrupted by the discovery of the real body of Rebecca, exposing Maxim as her murderer.

Harry Lime from The Third Man

The Third Man (1949) is set during the contemporary post-war Four-Power Occupation of Vienna, Austria.  Harry Lime is a known racketeer, stealing scarce, much-in-demand penicillin from the military hospital, diluting it, and selling ineffective treatments to civilian hospitals.  Many patients, including children, die because of the watered-down medication; those who do not die, especially the children who have contracted meningitis, suffer, go mad, and have to be institutionalized.  Knowing the British police force is onto him and his scheme, Lime fakes his own death to evade capture.  His plan is thwarted by an old friend, however, and the story ends the same way it began, with the graveside service for Harry Lime.

Harry Lime is ranked as the 37th Greatest Villain by the American Film Institute's Top 50 Villains.

The Third Man release script

Greene, Graham.  The Third Man.  Shepperton: London Film Productions, 1949.  An original Release Script for the 1949 film.  This post-production script is the first appearance in print of the Cuckoo clock lines delivered by Orson Welles in the film.  In Greene's screenplay, the scene between Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) and Harry Lime (Orson Welles) at the Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel ended with Harry asking Holly about an old school chum.  It was meant to show Lime's nonchalance about the tense, dark conversation he and Holly just had, but it was a weak ending to the encounter.  When they shot the scene, Welles went off-script and improvised the Cuckoo clock line, which he later said he took from an obscure Hungarian stage play.  This copy comes from the Richard Manney Collection of Film Classics.

The Third Man continuity script

Greene, Graham.  The Third Man.  Los Angeles: Selznick International, 1950.  An original post-production Dialogue Cutting Continuity Script, dated March 11,1950, following the February 2, 1950, US release of the film.  David O. Selznick, the American co-producer of the film, wanted Noël Coward to play Harry Lime, but Carol Reed, the director and co-producer, thought that would be a disaster and preferred Orson Welles.  When Alexander Korda, the British co-producer, did not have an opinion, Reed went with Welles.  This copy is a duplicate deaccessioned from the archive of David O. Selznick.

The Third Man and The Third Man and The Fallen Idol

Greene, Graham.  The Third Man.  New York: Viking Press, 1950.  First American edition.  A preface by Greene explains The Third Man story treatment was never intended to be read; the treatment was written to be raw material from which he would produce the screenplay.  The preface also notes several differences between the treatment and the film; some of the changes were made by Greene while writing the screenplay, some were made by the director, Carol Reed, and some were suggested or made by cast members Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles.  This copy comes from the library of Larry McMurtry and bears his bookplate on the front inside cover.

Bookplate of Larry McMurtry

Greene, Graham.  The Third Man and The Fallen Idol.  London: William Heinemann, 1950.  First British edition.  Includes "The Fallen Idol," a short story by Graham Greene originally published in 1936 as "The Basement Room."  Greene wrote the screenplay, adapting the story to film, which was directed by Carol Reed and released in 1948 as The Fallen Idol.  The success of this film prompted Alexander Korda, the executive producer, to request an original screenplay from Greene, resulting in The Third Man, the second Greene/Reed collaboration.  This copy comes from the library of Larry McMurtry and bears his bookplate on the front inside cover.

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men

Anton Chigurh is a psychopathic killer and hired hitman, devoid of conscience, compassion, or remorse.  He is known for his signature weapons, a sound-suppressed semiautomatic shotgun and a captive bolt pistol (stungun) which he uses to kill his victims up-close.  For people he does not necessarily have to kill, he flips a coin to decide their fate; no one ever seems to "win" Chigurh's coin toss.

No Country for Old Men

McCarthy, Cormac.  No Country for Old Men.  New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2005.  First edition.  When a drug deal gone bad leaves almost everyone dead, Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon the scene in the desert near the Mexican-American border and takes a satchel full of cash.  Anton Chigurh is dispatched to recover the money, while Sheriff Ed Tom Bell investigates the drug deal and tries to protect Moss.  Chigurh ruthlessly tracks Moss, ultimately kills him, and finds the money.  Bell subsequently retires, feeling defeated.  The 2007 Coen Brothers film adaptation won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.  Javier Bardem, who played Anton Chigurh, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sauron, Saruman, Grima, and Gollum from The Lord of the Rings

Villainous characters abound in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.  Among them, Sauron is the primary antagonist seeking to rule all of Middle-earth.  Saruman is a wizard who has been overcome by his lust for power and has sworn fealty to Sauron.  Grίma is an advisor in the king's court who is bought and corrupted by Saruman and becomes his mole.  Gollum is a centuries-old creature, originally a Stoorish hobbit, who once possessed the One Ring and will do anything to get it back.

The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Lord of the Rings.  New York: Ace Books, 1965.  The "pirated" edition.  The primary plot of The Lord of the Rings is to destroy the One Ring, which corrupts anyone who wears it.  In an earlier age, Sauron secretly forged the One Ring to rule all the other Rings of Power in his campaign to conquer and rule Middle-earth.  Now, the Fellowship of the Ring assembles to rally the peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron's armies and to defeat him, ultimately, by destroying the ring and preventing him from consolidating the power of the other magical rings.

The Two Towers

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Two Towers.  Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1965.  From the four-volume set including The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.  In The Two Towers Saruman faces off with Gandalf after Saruman sends Orcs to attack the Fellowship of the Ring.  Gandalf frees the king from the influence of Saruman's spy, Grίma (aka Wormtongue).  When Gandalf strips Saruman of most of his powers, Grίma attempts to kill him but fails.

Creating Gollum

Russell, Gary.  Gollum: Creating Gollum.  Los Angeles: New Line Home Entertainment, 2003.  After the hobbit Smeagol comes into the possession of the One Ring, he is corrupted by it and transforms into Gollum.  When he loses the ring, he attempts to murder Bilbo Baggins, another hobbit who finds the ring.  Throughout The Lord of the Rings, Gollum pursues the Fellowship of the Ring in their quest to destroy the ring on his own mission to get it back.  Creating Gollum is a book and DVD set detailing how Gollum was created and portrayed for the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings film adaptation.

Big Brother from Nineteen Eighty-Four

Big Brother is the personification of political power in Orwell's dystopia.  Big Brother is the ostensible leader of Oceania, a totalitarian state where the ruling party wields power for its own sake.  The notion of Big Brother represents the abuse of government power, the denial of civil liberties and the lack of choice in society, and mass surveillance in pursuit of ideological purity.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Orwell, George.  Nineteen Eighty-Four.  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949.  Orwell's "first thought" of the book came in 1943 or 1944, inspired by the Tehran Conference, a strategy meeting among Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in 1943.  The dystopian novels We (1924) by Yevgeny Zamyatin and Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley helped shape the mood of the story as Orwell wanted to write a dystopian story of his own; the success of Animal Farm (1945) afforded him the literary clout and financial stability to attempt the despotic work.  Critical reception and sales of the book far exceeded the expectations of both Orwell and his publishers.  The cultural impact of the book is evident in that "Big Brother" has become a synecdoche for the abuse of government power and "Orwellian" has become a synonym for dystopian.

Shere Khan from The Jungle Book

Shere Kahn, a tiger, is the main antagonist in The Jungle Book even though he appears in only a few stories.  A failed attempt to hunt humans by Shere Khan results in a young Mowgli straying from his parents.  Shere Khan is angry for losing his kill and vows the boy—now adopted by the Indian wolves and further protected by a panther and a bear—will be his some day.  Shere Khan makes several attempts to get to Mowgli but is always thwarted by the boy and his animal companions.

The Jungle Books

Kipling, Rudyard.  The Jungle Books.  Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1980.  The Jungle Books contains both collections of Kipling's Mowgli stories, The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895).  Shere Khan appears in three stories, "Mowgli's Brothers" and "Tiger! Tiger!" in The Jungle Book and "How Fear Came" in The Second Jungle Book.

Brady Hartsfield from Mr. Mercedes

Brady Hartsfield is a psychopath who began killing as an emotionally disturbed boy.  He is the central antagonist in Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes (2014), and a recurring character throughout the Bill Hodges trilogy, including Finders Keepers (2015) and End of Watch (2016).  Brady kills some people individually while he kills others in mass casualty attacks in Mr. Mercedes.  His plan to detonate a bomb and kill as many people as possible, including himself, is thwarted by Bill Hodges, a retired detective, and others, and Brady is injured and left comatose.  He awakens in the hospital at the end of Mr. Mercedes, is visited in the hospital by Hodges in Finders Keepers, and finds a way to kill again from his hospital bed in End of Watch.

Mr. Mercedes

King, Stephen.  Mr. Mercedes.  New York: Scriber, 2014.  First edition.  As a boy, Brady Hartsfield killed his mentally impaired brother.  Now, as a young man, he steals a Mercedes and plows into a crowd, killing 8 people and injuring many more.  He also manipulates the owner of the stolen Mercedes to commit suicide.  He then lures a retired police detective into hunting for him by sending him a letter in which Brady claims to be the culprit, referring to himself as "Mr. Mercedes."  As Hodges's pursuit begins, Brady accidentally poison's his own mother and kills another person before deciding to kill himself and others at a concert.  Mr. Mercedes won the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Captain William Kidd

Captain William Kidd (1654 – 1701) was a Scottish privateer-turned-pirate.  Kidd was commissioned to hunt down pirates in the Indian Ocean but was not very successful.  Many of his crew deserted him while those who remained threatened mutiny.  In an argument with William Moore, one of his own crewmen, Kidd struck Moore with an iron bucket, killing him.  Admiralty law generally turned a blind eye to violence against one's crew, but killing was not tolerated.  Kidd also had a reputation for being extremely violent to crewmen taken as prisoner from other ships; escaped prisoners described various forms of brutality and torture at Kidd's hand.  Kidd was declared a pirate in 1698, captured in 1699, charged with piracy on high seas and the murder of Moore, and executed in 1701.  His body was gibbeted, or hung for public display, for three years over the Thames as a warning to would-be pirates.

Captain Kidd and his Skeleton Island

Wilkins, Harold T.  Captain Kidd and his Skeleton Island.  New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1937.  Illustrated.  A copy of the very scarce first edition.  The book covers Kidd’s life from a young man to his adventures as a buccaneer on the high seas and eventually being hung as a pirate.  The subtitle, “The Discovery of a Strange Secret Hidden for 266 Years,” refers to the finding of a chart or map hidden in the false bottom of his sea-chest for “Skeleton” or Pirate Treasure Island.  The map is reproduced as the end papers of the book.  An additional treasure island chart was discovered in a third chest owned by Kidd, hidden behind a mirror. 

Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates

Johnson, Merle, ed.  Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates.  New York: Harper & Brothers, 1921.  Illustrated.  Howard Pyle, author and artist, describes the olden times and illustrates the many pirates of the Spanish Main, including Captain Kidd.

"Kidd at Gardiner's Island"

January 2024: Epistolary Novels and Letters

Epistolary Novels and Letters composed the theme for the January 2024 meeting.  Modern novels were featured for the epistolary fiction—not by design but simply by what the collectors chose to present—while the published collections of nonfiction letters ranged more broadly from the early 1800s to the present.  Several unpublished letters held in private collections were also shown.

Epistolary Novels

The Screwtape Letters

Lewis, C. S.  The Screwtape Letters.  New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1943.  First American edition.  Screwtape is a senior demon living in Hell who holds a bureaucratic post in the "lowerarchy" of demons.  He is tasked with mentoring his nephew Wormwood, an inexperienced and incompetent tempter living among humans.  Wormwood must secure a man's damnation, and Screwtape writes a series of letters offering advice for tempting the man, known only as "the Patient," away from God.  Lewis's satirical, fictional story is a Christian apologetic for resisting evil.  The Screwtape Letters was originally published in England in 1942; the first American edition was released a full year later.

The Screwtape Letters, Rev. Ed.

Lewis, C. S.  The Screwtape Letters.  New York: Collier Books / Macmillan Publishing Company, 1982.  Revised edition.  This revised edition includes The Screwtape Letters (1942), the coda "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" (1959), Lewis's Preface to The Screwtape Letters (1960), and a previously unpublished Preface to "Screwtape Proposes a Toast."  This omnibus was first published together in 1960.

 

The Father Christmas Letters

Tolkien, J. R. R.  The Father Christmas Letters.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979.  Tolkien began writing Christmas letters to his children when his oldest son was three, in 1920.  The letters, stories from Father Christmas to the Tolkien children, continued annually for the next 20 years.  Tolkien also illustrated each letter and delivered it each Christmas in an envelope bearing North Pole stamps and postmarks.  Tolkien's letters from Father Christmas were gathered and edited for publication by Baillie Tolkien, his daughter-in-law, and posthumously published in 1976.  Some letters and drawings were absent from the 1976 book.  The book was republished in 1999 to include the omitted material and retitled Letters from Father Christmas.

 

Last Days of Summer and Almost Like Being in Love

Kluger, Steve.  Last Days of Summer.  New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.  First published in 1998.  The story follows Joey, a twelve-year-old Jewish boy growing up in an Italian Brooklyn neighborhood in the 1940s, and the pen-pal friendship he develops with Charlie, the third baseman for the New York Giants.  As their letter-writing friendship develops, Charlie becomes a surrogate father figure for Joey and the relationship changes both of their lives.  The story is told primarily through their correspondence but also includes, postcards, newspaper headlines and clippings, a psychiatrist's session transcripts, and other letters and documents.  Last Days of Summer received a 1999 Alex Award from the American Library Association, recognizing "books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18."

Kluger, Steve.  Almost Like Being in Love.  New York: Harper Perennial, 2004.  First edition.  The story begins with high school seniors Travis and Craig meeting on the set of the school's production of Brigadoon.  They begin a whirlwind romance that continues throughout the summer after they graduate.  They fall out of touch, however, as they depart for separate colleges, but twenty years later Travis realizes he still loves Craig and sets off on a cross-country journey to rekindle his relationship with his one true love.  The story is told through diary entries, letters and emails, inner-office memos, and post-it notes.  Almost Like Being in Love won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for Romance.

 

World War Z

Brooks, Max.  World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.  New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.  First edition.  World War Z is a sequel (or prequel?) to Brooks's The Zombie Survival Guide (2003).  It details a global apocalyptic zombie plague and the resultant political, economic, social, religious, and environmental impacts on the planet.  The story is told through interview transcripts from a series of personal accounts from individuals all over the world who experienced and survived the zombie plague, as told to an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission.  The agent is a fictionalized Max Brooks, who authored (authors?) The Zombie Survival Guide.

 

The Martian

Weir, Andy.  The Martian.  New York: Crown Publishers, 2014.  First edition.  Weir's science fiction story was originally self-published as a serialized blog in 2011.  In 2014, it was published in book format with significant textual changes.  In the year 2035, NASA astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead as the rest of his team flees a dust storm on Mars.  Watney survives and, alone on the hostile planet, must improvise and rely on his own resourcefulness to survive until, if at all, NASA can rescue him.  The story is told through the logs Watney records to document and preserve his experiences.  The Martian earned the 2016 Hugo Award's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for Weir, and the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, Award for the adapted screenplay.

 

The Themis Files
Sleeping Giants, Waking Gods, and Only Human

Neuvel, Sylvain.  Sleeping Giants.  Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2019.  Book One of The Themis Files trilogy, first published in 2016.  This edition is illustrated by Pascal Blanche and signed by the author.

Neuvel, Sylvain.  Waking Gods.  Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2019.  Book Two of The Themis Files trilogy, first published in 2017.  This edition is illustrated by Pascal Blanche and signed by the author.

Neuvel, Sylvain.  Only Human.  Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2019.  Book Three of The Themis Files trilogy, first published in 2018.  This edition is illustrated by Pascal Blanche and signed by the author.

The Themis Files trilogy came about after the author's son asked him not only to build a toy robot but also to provide a full backstory for the robot.  The son wanted to know where the robot came from and what it did.  This request inspired the first book, Sleeping Giants, and ultimately the trilogy.  The Themis Files follows a team of scientists formed to track down and reassemble a giant robot of mysterious origins whose parts are scattered across the globe.  The team is led by physicist Rose Franklin, who as a child first discovered and unearthed a giant metallic hand and now as an adult has devoted her career to solving the mystery of the colossal robot.  The story is told through a series of journal entries, transcribed dialogues, and other forms of documentation. 

 

Letters

Ray Bradbury letter

Bradbury, Ray, Hollywood, California, to Dan Miller, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 11 July 1965.  Private collection, Atlanta, Georgia.  When a 20-year-old college sophomore who wants to become a writer sends a fan letter to his favorite author in 1965, Ray Bradbury writes back.  In his reply, Bradbury compares the fan's connection to his work to his own regard for one of his writing influences:

The feeling you describe about your relationship to my work is similar to one I had years ago in reading Graham Greene.  He was my special shocker-dynamo-revver-upper.  One page of him and I was off and flying.

This letter echoes a sentiment Bradbury expressed directly to Graham Greene in a letter dated April 18, 1979, selected in Jonathan Eller's Remembrance (below):

Also, on many days of my life in the past 30 years, when I have had a touch of dry spell, I get out the short stories of Graham Greene and re-read them and prime the pump and go back to my work with love and energy.

 

Neil Armstrong letter

Pearson, Mark, Sun City, Arizona, to Neil A. Armstrong, Houston, Texas, 15 June 1969.  Private collection, Atlanta, Georgia.  Mimeographed copy of a handwritten letter to Apollo XI Commander Neil Armstrong.  Pearson became aware of an invitation for suggestions naming the Apollo XI lunar landing site.  In his letter to Commander Armstrong, he suggests the name Eldorado from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe which he quotes, "Over the Mountains of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride boldly ride," the shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!" 

Armstrong, Neil A., Houston, Texas, to Mark Pearson, Sun City, Arizona, 30 June 1969.  Private collection, Atlanta, Georgia.  One-page typed letter from Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) on National Aeronautics and Space Administration letterhead to Mark Pearson, an engineer in General Electric’s Missile and Space Division.  Armstrong replied in his letter thanking him and boldly signed his name.  This letter is dated just weeks before the launch that would take the crew to the moon and Neil Armstrong would become the first man to walk on the moon.  The letter and signature have been authenticated by Zarelli Space Authentication.  Additional material was included when this collector received the letter providing provenance.

Nota bene: This letter from the first man to walk on the moon is highly desirable especially for a collector of astronaut signatures and even more so since this collector has a major collection of astronaut-signed books and a major collection of books by and about Edgar Allan Poe.  Armstrong's letter is an important bridge between the collector's two collections and a truly amazing addition and, as the collector says, "like a dream come true."

 

Michael Collins letter

Collins, Michael, Washington, D.C., to Lee D. Saegesser, Washington, D.C., 17 March 1977.  Private collection, Atlanta, Georgia.  One-page typed letter from Michael Collins (1930 – 2021) on National Air and Space Museum letterhead to Lee D. Saegesser, Chief Archivist at the D.C. NASA Headquarters History Office at that time.  Collins thanks him for a very useful volume, Origins of NASA Names.  Michael Collins joined Neil Armstrong on the Apollo XI flight to the moon and waited in moon orbit as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

 

Collections of Letters

The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution

Sparks, Jared, ed.  The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution; Being the Letters of Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, John Adams, John Jay, Arthur Lee, William Lee, Ralph Izard, Francis Dana, William Carmichael, Henry Laurens, John Laurens, M. De Lafayette, M. Dumas and Others, Concerning the Foreign Relations of the United States During the Whole Revolution; Together with the Letters in Reply from the Secret Committee of Congress, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Also, The Entire Correspondence of the French Ministers, Gerard and Luzerne, with Congress. Published Under the Direction of the President of the United States, from the Original Manuscripts in the Department of State, Conformably to a Resolution of Congress, of March 27th, 1818.  Boston: Nathan Hale and Gray & Bowen, 1829-1830.  In 12 volumes.  Volumes 1-5 are dated 1829; volumes 6-12 are dated 1830.  Jared Sparks (1789 – 1866) was Unitarian minister, historian, and educator.  He pastored the First Independent Church of Baltimore until 1823, when he stepped down for health reasons.  He moved to Boston and turned his attention to history, becoming the editor of, and contributor to, the North American Review as well as becoming a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Antiquarian Society.  During this time, he compiled and published The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution.  Following this massive undertaking, he turned his attention to another one, publishing The Writings of George Washington in 12 volumes (1834 – 1837), considered his most important work.  In 1849, he became president of Harvard College.  The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Volume 7 (shown), contains the correspondence of John Adams with such figures as John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, and Charles W. F. Dumas.

 

Letters to John Glenn

Glenn, John.  Letters to John Glenn: P.S. I Listened to Your Heart Beat.  Houston, TX: World Book Encyclopedia, 1964.  John Glenn (1921 – 2016) was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times on February 20, 1962, aboard the Friendship 7 flight.  After that historic flight, Glenn began receiving letters from people of all ages and from all walks of life, and from all over the world.  The letters poured in for several years, and in 1964 World Book Encyclopedia published a selection of the favorite and best letters Glenn received.  This copy is inscribed by John Glenn to the collector.

 

84, Charing Cross Road

Hanff, Helene.  84, Charing Cross Road.  New York: Grossman Publishers, 1970.  Helene Hanff (1916 – 1997), an American writer living in New York City, had difficulty locating some obscure British books she wanted to read.  When she saw an advertisement in the Saturday Review of Literature for Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers in London, she wrote to them in 1949 for assistance; Frank Doel, the chief buyer for the bookshop, replied. Beyond the book searches and purchases, Hanff and Doel exchanged letters regularly for almost 20 years.  A long-distance friendship developed between the two, and Hanff became invested in the lives of the other employees at 84 Charing Cross Road, the location of Marks & Co.  She wrote about her life in Manhattan and even exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts with the friends in London she never had a chance to meet.  Shortly after Doel's death in 1968, the store closed.  Upon learning this, Hanff selected and arranged her collection of letters for publication.

 

Dear David, Dear Graham

Greene, Graham and David Low.  Dear David, Dear Graham: A Bibliographic Correspondence.  Oxford: The Alembic Press, 1989.  Novelist Graham Greene said on several occasions that had he not been a writer he would have liked to be a secondhand bookseller.  Renowned Cecil Court bookseller David Low found joy in locating the books his customers sought and suggesting books he thought they might want.  The two men first met in the 1930s but formed a strong friendship during World War II as they both served as Air-raid wardens for the same post.  Collected here are the letters they exchanged from 1971 through 1984, mostly reminiscences between two friends of their mutual love for old books, the old booksellers of Charing Cross and Cecil Court, and news of the book trade.  The collection also includes behind-the-scenes work on books published by the Amate Press, including introductions written by Greene for Low's With All Faults (1973) and J. R. Fox's Bridging the Gulf (1983).  This copy is number 17 of 50 quarter leather bound copies out of the larger limited edition of 250 copies.  The specially bound copies include tipped in photos of Low and Greene not included in the cloth-bound copies.

 

Yours, etc.

Greene, Graham.  Yours etc.: Letters to the Press 1945-89.  London: Reinhardt Books, 1989.  Selected and introduced by Christopher Hawtree.  After college and before establishing himself as a novelist, Greene worked as a sub-editor for The Times and occasionally filled in for the correspondence editor, where he learned the value and role of writing letters to the press.  While Greene diligently wrote letters to correct erroneous reports or reviews of himself or his works, he more often wrote about current events, global politics, and social injustices far removed from the literary scene.  He used his fame and the power of the press to deliver concise, often biting, criticisms of persons and institutions he felt were in the wrong.  He penned letters to the press to make his stances known and a matter of public record.

 

Dear Juliette

Sherman, Susan, ed.  Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley.  New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.  First edition.  Selected, edited, and introduced by Susan Sherman.  Foreword by Francis Huxley.  May Sarton had a secret affair with Juliette Huxley after ending an open affair with her husband, Julian Huxley (brother of Aldus Huxley), which began in 1936.  Juliette ended the physical relationship after Julian learned of it, but she and May maintained a close relationship throughout the rest of their lives.  After the brief physical relationship, May and Juliette continued an emotional romance, mostly through letters, which Juliette ended in 1948 when May threatened to tell Julian.  After Julian's death in 1975, the women resumed their soulmate correspondence.  Susan Sherman, a close friend of Sarton, collected the private correspondence between the two women beginning in 1936 and continuing to Juliette's death in 1994.

 

Graham Greene: A Life in Letters

Greene, Richard, ed.  Graham Greene: A Life in Letters.  New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.  First American edition.  Graham Greene was a consummate, life-long letter writer.  This collection focuses on his personal correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and contemporaries; a few important professional letters are also included.  Richard Greene (no relation) selects and arranges these letters in chronological order from a 16-year-old writing to his mother while traveling abroad in 1921 to a final letter to his biographer a month before his death in 1991.  This volume includes only the letters written by Graham and does not include letters to him; Richard Greene provides a brief context to some of the letters.  This copy is signed by Richard Greene on the title page.

 

Remembrance

Eller, Jonathan R., ed.  Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023.  Bradbury scholar and biographer Jonathan Eller selects and categorizes 70 years of correspondence to and from Bradbury, from a 17-year-old Bradbury inviting Edgar Rice Burroughs to come speak to his branch of the Science Fiction Leage of America in 1937 to a 2007 letter from the Ambassador of France to the United States congratulating Bradbury on his meritorious decoration as Commandeur in the Order of Arts and Letters.  Eller groups the correspondence with mentors and influencers; emerging writers and literary contemporaries; screenwriters, directors, and other filmmakers; agents, editors, and publishers; and friends and family.  Another category concerns letters about war and intolerance, two themes which inspired some of Bradbury's best writing.

 

December 2023: Georgia Authors (who are not Margaret Mitchell)

The December 2023 meeting surveyed Georgia Authors.  To avoid seeing multiple copies of Gone With the Wind—and, more importantly, to spotlight other Georgia writers—the group purposely excluded Margaret Mitchell.  As a result, collectors came up with an impressive array of poets, essayists, novelists, storytellers, and historians.  The highlighted Georgia authors are presented here in chronological order.

 

Thomas Holley Chivers (1809 – 1858)

Nacoochee: Or, The Beautiful Star, with Other Poems

Chivers, T. H.  Nacoochee: Or, The Beautiful Star, with Other Poems.  New York: W. E. Dean, Printer, 1837.  The author's third published collection of poetry.  This copy bears a presentation inscription from the author to the editor of The Sunday Morning News on the front free end paper.

"To the Editor of the Sunday Morning News.
Presented by the Author with his sincere respects."

Thomas Holley Chivers was born in Washington, Georgia, in 1809.  He trained as a physician but practiced medicine only briefly before turning to writing.  Chivers published ten books of poetry.  He has been called the "Lost Poet" of Georgia and has mostly been forgotten except for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe.  Poe’s writing of "The Raven" was influenced by some of Chivers’s poetry.  He later traveled throughout many parts of the country, but always returned to Georgia.  Chivers is cited as an influence on Margaret Mitchell, and she intended to write a biography of him shortly before her death.

 

Maurice Thompson (1844 – 1901)

Stories of the Cherokee Hills

Thompson, Maurice.  Stories of the Cherokee Hills.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898.  A collection of seven fictional stories of both white and black Georgians, set mostly in the North Georgia mountains, spanning the slave days, the civil war, and the period of reconstruction.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

James Maurice Thompson moved with his family to Georgia as a young child and lived on his father’s plantation in the Cherokee Valley.  He and his brother become expert archers, hunting throughout Georgia from the Okefenokee Swamp to the north Georgia mountains and beyond.  His best-known book is The Witchery of Archery; the first edition of 1877 is extremely rare and very desirable by modern day archers.  He published 22 books in his lifetime, including books of poetry, novels, and essay collections.

 

Joel Chandler Harris (1848 – 1908)

Uncle Remus: His Songs and HIs Sayings

Harris, Joel Chandler.  Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings.  New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1898.  A collection of animal stories, folklore, and songs Harris learned as a teenager from the black storytellers he encountered at the Turnwold Plantation while working for The Countryman newspaper.  Harris constructed the Uncle Remus character to narrate the stories in the African American dialect in which he heard them.  This copy is inscribed by the author on the front free end paper.

"For Little Ruth: with the affectionate regards of Joel Chandler Harris"

Joel Chandler Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1848.  He attended the Eatonton Academy for Boys, where one of his teachers later recalled his early writing ability.  He was a voracious reader of books and newspapers.  He began his writing career writing for the Macon Telegraph newspaper, though soon found that journalism did not satisfy his literary ambitions.  He later joined the writing staff of the Atlanta Constitution, where he was given an opportunity to take over a regular column which allowed him to write more creatively.  Harris's Uncle Remus stories first appeared in this newspaper column.  He published 10 collections of Uncle Remus and Mr. Rabbit stories; in total, he published 25 books in his lifetime plus 4 posthumous new works.  In 2000, Harris was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Harry Stillwell Edwards (1855 – 1938)

Eneas Africanus

Edwards, Harry Stillwell.  Eneas Africanus.  Macon, GA: Eneas Africanus Press, 1954.  Reprint.  First published in 1920, this pro-slavery propaganda story tells the story of Eneas, a former slave still faithful to his old master, George Tommey, who is sent out in search of "Tommeysville."  Eneas returns many years later with a family and all of Tommey's family treasures.

Edwards, Harry Stillwell.  Eneas Africanus.  Gatlinburg, TN: Historic Press \ South, n.d. (1973).  Facsimile reprint of the 1920 edition by J. W. Burke Company.

Harry Stillwell Edwards was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1855.  He earned his law degree from Mercer University in 1877 and was admitted to the bar but never practiced law, choosing to be a writer instead.  His early novels were mysteries which focused on Southern aristocratic families.  He turned his attention to journalism and became the co-owner/co-editor of the Macon Evening News and the owner/editor Macon Telegraph where he contributed a popular monthly column, "What Comes Down the Creek."  Writing later in the post-Reconstruction era, Edwards authored and self-published pro-slavery fantasies, propaganda literature still popular in the South at the time.  In all, he authored 19 novels and short story collections.

 

Erskine Caldwell (1903 – 1987)

You Have Seen Their Faces

Caldwell, Erskine and Margaret Bourke-White.  You Have Seen Their Faces.  New York: Viking Press, 1940.  Second edition.  First published in 1937, Caldwell wrote the social commentary for photographer Bourke-White's raw portraiture of the share-cropping South during the Great Depression.  The book is regarded as Bourke-White's most successful single work.  Caldwell's forceful commentary exemplifies his political sympathies with the working class; he often wrote stories of workers and farmers portraying their lives and struggles.  Caldwell and Bourke-White married two years after the book's publication.

Erskine Preston Caldwell was born in Moreland, Georgia, in 1903.  His father was a minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, and Caldwell was profoundly influenced by his father's conservative, social reform theology and his parents' assistance to the poor in Wrens, Georgia, where his father pastored in Caldwell's teens.  He often wrote about poverty, racism, and social injustice in the American South.  These themes are prominent in his two most acclaimed works, Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933).  Caldwell authored 25 novels, 12 nonfiction collections, 2 autobiographies, 2 children's books, and 150 short stories.  He also edited the 28-volume series American Folkways.  In 2000, Caldwell was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Kenneth Coleman (1916 – 1999)

The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789

Coleman, Kenneth.  The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789.  Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1958.  This revision of Coleman's doctoral dissertation provides a detailed description of the events leading up to the Revolutionary war, the years of fighting, and the readjustment after independence.  It analyzes the political, social, and economic impacts of the war throughout Georgia.  This copy is signed and dated on the title page.

Georgia Journeys, 1732-1754

Temple, Sarah Gober and Kenneth Coleman.  Georgia Journeys, 1732-1754.  Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1961.  Coleman and Temple use primary accounts of the original settlers of Georgia to trace the development of Georgia from the arrival of the original colonists in 1732 to England's takeover of the colony in 1754.  They focus on the problems and challenges encountered in establishing the colony, as described by the original and early settlers themselves.

Kenneth Coleman was born in Devereux, Georgia, in 1916.  He was a professor of history at the Atlanta Division of the University of Georgia (now Georgia State University) before moving to the main Athens campus of UGA in 1955.  He authored five books on colonial and revolutionary Georgia.  He served as the general editor and a contributor to A History of Georgia (1977), a project encouraged earlier by then-Governor Jimmy Carter.  He also edited six volumes (published between 1976 and 1989) of the 67-volume Colonial Records of Georgia and co-edited the 2-volume Dictionary of Georgia Biography (1983).  In 1992, Coleman received the Governor's Award in the Humanities, presented by Governor Zell Miller, who had been an undergraduate student of Coleman's.

 

Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)

Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President

Carter, Jimmy.  Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President.  New York: Bantam Books, 1982.  Carter's memoir of his time in the Oval Office is a candid glimpse into both the personal life and political world of the 39th President.  He details the highs and lows of his time in office, from the triumph of the Camp David Middle East peace summit to the frustrations of the Iran hostage crisis.  This edition is limited to 2,500 copies and is hand numbered and signed on the limitation page.

Numbered and signed limitation page

James Earl Carter, Jr. was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924.  He began a life of public service with a stint in the Navy before serving two terms in the Georgia General Assembly.  He became the 76th Governor of Georgia in 1971 and the 39th President of the United States in 1977.  After leaving the White House, he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center, a nonpartisan public policy center promoting human rights and furthering the eradication of infectious diseases.  In 2002, Carter earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Carter Center.  He has authored 32 books and co-authored one book with his wife, Rosalynn, and one book with his daughter, Amy.  In 2006, Carter was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Flannery O'Connor (1925 – 1964)

The Complete Stories

O’Connor, Flannery.  The Complete Stories.  New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1971.  Posthumously published, this short story collection comprises the stories from A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965), along with several previously unavailable stories. The Complete Stories won the National Book Award for Fiction 1972.

Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925.  She attended high school in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she worked as the art editor for the school newspaper.  While attending Georgia State College for Women, she drew cartoons for the student newspaper.  After college, she attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she met Andrew Lytle, who first published her stories in the Sewanee Review.  She published two novels and one short story collection during her short lifetime; a second short story collection was published shortly after her death.  Posthumously, seven books have been published containing her letters, book reviews, journal entries, cartoons, and short prose.  In 2000, Flannery O'Connor was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Terry Kay (1938 – 2020)

To Dance With the White Dog

Kay, Terry.  To Dance With the White Dog.  Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Ltd., 1993.  Fifth printing.  First published in 1990, the novel began as a nonfiction celebration of Kay's parents' marriage.  Kay's father was visited by a white dog after his wife's death, and Kay decided to fictionalize his parent's long, loving relationship and the event with the white dog to tell a universal love story.  The novel was adapted to a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie in 1993 starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, for which Cronyn won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

Terry Kay was born in Royston, Georgia, in 1938.  He began his career as a writer and critic for the Dekalb Decatur News and the Atlanta Journal before becoming a novelist.  His first novel, The Year the Lights Came On, was published in 1976; his second novel, After Eli (1981) earned him the Georgia Writer's Association award for Author of the Year.  To Dance with the White Dog garnered Kay the Southeastern Library Association's Outstanding Author of the Year distinction in 1991, and the book was twice nominated for the American Booksellers Association's Book of the Year award.  He authored 14 novels, a juvenile Christmas story, 2 nonfiction books, a play, a teleplay, as well as the adaptations of three of his novels to film.  In 2006, Kay was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Alice Walker (b. 1944)

The Temple of My Familiar

Walker, Alice.  The Temple of My Familiar.  San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.  First edition.  Walker's fifth novel interweaves stories of its five central characters; it is told through multi-perspective narration as each character tells her or his own story.  Celie and Shug, the main characters of The Color Purple (1982), Walker's third and best-known novel, appear as supporting characters, though The Temple of My Familiar is not a sequel.  This copy is signed and dated by the author on the half title page.

Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1944.  She attended segregated schools there through high school and graduated as class valedictorian from the only Black high school in the town.  Much of her fiction, like The Temple of My Familiar and The Color Purple (1982), takes place in unnamed Southern places which resemble her middle Georgia upbringing.  The Color Purple earned her the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.  She has published 13 novels and short story collections, 11 poetry collections, and 11 nonfiction books.  In 2001, Walker was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Michael Bishop (1945 – 2023)

No Enemy But Time

Bishop, Michael.  No Enemy But Time.  New York: Timescape/Simon & Schuster, 1982.  John Monegal (aka Joshua Kampa), a black American who regularly has intense dreams of prehistoric Africa, is invited to join a top-secret government time travel project.  He is sent back millions of years into the past to central Africa, where he joins a tribe of protohumans.  When he returns to his present-day reality, the reader is left with an unanswered question: was it time travel or a dream?  No Enemy But Time won the 1982 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Brittle Innings

Bishop, Michael.  Brittle Innings.  New York: Bantam Books, 1994.  Brittle Innings is a sequel of sorts to Frankenstein.  Frankenstein's monster makes his way to the American South during World War II and joins a minor league baseball team in Georgia.  The story confronts racism, misogyny, and other social ills against the backdrop of war while also enjoying the great American pastime.  Brittle Innings won the 1995 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Michael Lawson Bishop lived most of his adult life in Pine Mountain, Georgia.  He earned his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in English from the University of Georgia.  He joined its English department faculty in 1972, but two years later devoted himself to writing full time.  Georgia is a frequent setting for Bishop's fiction; several of his novels and short stories take place throughout present-day Georgia while others occur in futuristic Atlanta.  He won multiple writing awards including 2 Nebula Awards, the Locus Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award.  He authored 15 solo novels, 3 collaborative novels, 11 story collections, 2 poetry collections, over 150 pieces of short fiction, and many essays.  In 2018, Bishop was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Becky Albertalli (b. 1982)

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Albertalli, Becky.  Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.  New York: Balzer + Bray, 2015.  First edition.  Albertalli's debut novel tells the story of Simon and his online relationship with "Blue," another student at his high school who has not yet revealed his identity.  In a climactic scene, Blue finally reveals himself as a known character throughout the story.  Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda was adapted to film as Love, Simon in 2018, starring Nick Robinson as Simon and Keiynan Lonsdale as Bram/"Blue."  The movie was filmed in multiple locations throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

Becky Albertalli was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1982.  She and her family still reside in the Atlanta metropolitan area.  A former psychologist, she left her practice in 2012 with the birth of her first son and decided to pursue writing as a career.  Her first novel, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, was published three years later.  Simon earned Albertalli the 2105 William C. Morris Award from the American Library Association and the 2017 German Youth Literature Prize.  She has published 9 novels, 3 of which were co-authored with other writers.  In addition to Simon being adapted to film, the movie rights to two of her other novels have been purchased and are in development.

 

Taylor Brown (b. 1982)

Wingwalkers

Brown, Taylor.  Wingwalkers.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2022.  This fictional story is inspired by an anecdote in William Faulkner's biography, in which Faulkner meets two barnstormers funding their cross-country journey by performing daredevil arial shows.  Brown follows his biplane pilot, Zeno, and his wingwalking wife, Della, as they cheat death along the way from Georgia to Hollywood, where Della dreams of living.  The novel builds up to their chance meeting with Faulkner in New Orleans.

Taylor Brown was born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1982.  He grew up on the Georgia coast and attended the University of Georgia.  After some international travel, he settled in Savannah, Georgia.  He published his first short stories in 2008.  He has published six novels and one short story collection.  He is a recipient of the Montana Prize for Fiction and has been a finalist for several writing awards, including being a three-time finalist for the Southern Book Prize.  In 2021, Taylor Brown was named Georgia Author of the Year by the Georgia Writers Association.