Gone With the Wind — February 1937 Printing (Macmillan)
A well‑preserved early reprint of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, published less than a year after the first edition.
Gone with the Wind (1936) is the only novel published during Margaret Mitchell’s lifetime and remains one of the most widely read works of American literature. More than thirty million copies have been sold worldwide, and in multiple reader polls its popularity has been surpassed only by the Bible. This early 1937 printing reflects the novel’s explosive rise during the Great Depression, when Macmillan reprinted the book dozens of times to meet unprecedented demand.
Author Biography
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (1900–1949) was a lifelong Georgian, journalist, and novelist. Gone with the Wind earned both the National Book Award (1936) and the Pulitzer Prize (1937). After her death, her early writings and the novella Lost Laysen were published, offering insight into her development as a writer.
The book is dedicated to Mitchell’s husband, John Robert Marsh, who served as her editor, proofreader, researcher, and business manager throughout the decade-long writing process. Before the novel’s publication, Mitchell worked as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal, though her prominent Atlanta family discouraged her from pursuing a writing career.
Published by The Macmillan Company in 1936, the novel became an immediate bestseller, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1937) and inspiring the landmark 1939 film starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. The story blends romance, bildungsroman, and Southern Romanticism, following Scarlett O’Hara through the upheavals of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The novel is told from the perspective of the antebellum planter class — a viewpoint shaped by Mitchell’s own family background. Its portrayal of the Confederacy and enslavement reflects the biases and limitations of its time, and modern readers often approach the work with both appreciation for its literary impact and awareness of its problematic framing.
The front flyleaf contains a dated gift inscription (September 23, 1937), from Helen to Marie, written in Swedish:
“Till min tråfasta vän… Hoppas att du tycker lika mycket om denna bok, som jag gjorde.”
“To my faithful friend… Hope you like this book as much as I did.”
Provenance Note
Early inscriptions dated within the novel’s first year of publication are valued by collectors for the human history they preserve. The inscription is dated only six months after this February 1937 printing was issued, placing it firmly within the novel's first year of publication.
This 1937 Swedish dedication suggests the book traveled internationally soon after release — a reminder of the novel’s rapid global reach. While inscriptions do not typically increase monetary value, they enhance narrative provenance, giving this copy a documented life and a personal connection to its earliest readers.
This February 1937 printing is in very good vintage condition, with light fraying at the spine head and tail and a clean, tight text block. The brown cloth binding with blue lettering is the correct Macmillan style for 1936–1937 reprints.
Collector’s Note
Few American novels achieved the immediate success of Gone with the Wind. Published in June 1936, Margaret Mitchell's epic Civil War saga became a national phenomenon almost overnight, forcing The Macmillan Company to issue repeated printings to satisfy demand.
This February 1937 printing belongs to that first extraordinary year of publication and represents the period when the novel was transforming from bestseller into cultural landmark. For many collectors, early reprints such as this offer an appealing balance of historical significance and affordability, preserving the original format, binding style, and reading experience of the book's earliest audience.
The contemporary Swedish gift inscription dated September 23, 1937, adds an additional layer of provenance, documenting how quickly Mitchell's novel reached readers beyond the United States and providing a tangible connection to one of its earliest owners.
Why Collect Early Printings? While first editions receive most of the attention, early printings published during a book's initial release period preserve the same historical moment and reading experience enjoyed by the novel's first audience. For many collectors, they offer an affordable and increasingly scarce connection to one of America's most influential literary works.
Browse the Classic Literature collection for more classics, children's books, modern fiction and links to other popular printed works.
