Gone With the Wind. by Mitchell, Margaret - 1965

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965. First deluxe edition of Margaret Mitchell's classic novel. Octavo, original half cloth over illustrated boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, pictorial endpapers, frontispiece, illustrated by Ben Stahl. Signed by four actors from the acclaimed 1939 film adaptation on the front free endpaper including Ann Rutherford (Carreen O'Hara, Scarlett's sister), Victor Jory (Jonas Wilkerson, the field overseer), Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O'Hara, another sister), Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton, a cousin) and Susan Myrick, the technical advisor on the set. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, contemporary name to the pastedown. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph of Mitchell by Leonid Sevirsky. Rare and desirable signed by several cast members from "one of the greatest films of all time. Produced by David O. Selznick, directed by Victor Fleming, and adapted from Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel, the 1939 film Gone With the Wind tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner and her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, and her subsequent marriage to Rhett Butler. The leading roles were played by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett), Clark Gable (Rhett), Leslie Howard (Ashley), and Olivia de Havilland (Melanie). The film was immensely popular when first released and received particular praise for its casting. It became the highest-earning film made up to that point, and held that record for over a quarter of a century. It is currently regarded as one of the best films of all time and in 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.