Vom Winde verweht. Berlin. 8vo (150 x 230 mm). 2 vols. 492 pp.; (4), (493)-1007, (1) pp. Custom gilt-tooled fine vellum binding. - Together with a typed letter signed by Margaret Mitchell, 20 Sept. 1938, 1 p. on her stationery, and a typed letter signed by Stephens Mitchell, 4 Oct.
$ 8,576 / 7.500 €
(99775/BN66184)
The splendidly bound personal copy of Felix Guggenheim, the driving force behind the Berlin publishing house Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft. - "Gone with the Wind" was first published in Germany in mid-September 1937, by the recently-established Hamburg publisher H. Goverts. The translation by Martin Beheim-Schwarzbach was immediately licensed to other German, Swiss and Austrian publishers, and this is the scarcest of the several editions to appear that year. This is the personal copy of Felix Guggenheim, a board member and director of the legendary German book subscription society Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft.
The edition would prove to be one of the book club's last great efforts in which Guggenheim was involved before the war: of Jewish descent, he emigrated to Switzerland in 1938, reaching the U.S. in 1940 via the UK and Canada. - Guggenheim had two copies of his German edition of "Gone With the Wind" custom-bound in fine vellum bindings. One set he presented to the author; the other - described here - he kept for his personal library. In the accompanying letter, Margaret Mitchell acknowledges the gift, writing: "My dear Doctor Guggenheim: Miss Marion Saunders sent me the beautiful two-volume set of the German edition of 'Gone With the Wind' and, needless to say, I am delighted with it. You were so very generous to send me this lovely gift. You could not have chosen anyone who had a greater appreciation of fine bindings and excellent workmanship than I. I do not believe I have ever seen a better job of binding, and certainly I have never personally owned any books like these. My family and all my friends who have had the pleasure of examining the books are loud in their praise. Cordially, Margaret Mitchell Marsh". - The set is further accompanied by a letter from Margaret Mitchell’s brother Stephen Mitchell (1896-1983), who worked as an attorney. Responding to Guggenheim’s inquiry about a post-war German reissue of "Gone With the Wind", he recalls: "I do remember the beautiful edition of 'Gone With the Wind' which you presented to Mrs. Margaret Mitchell Marsh, my sister. These volumes are now in the Margaret Mitchell Memorial Room at the Atlantic Public Library [...]". - A unique piece of history that explores a connection between the American South and 1930s Germany..