Very Expensive Used Books

 

  In early October AbeBooks released its list of "Most Expensive Sales From July to September, 2022." Third on the list was Gone With the Wind. Here is their notice:

Gone with the Wind,  by Margaret Mitchell - $25,000
A first edition, first printing of Margaret Mitchell’s landmark novel about the American South during the American Civil War and its aftermath. The book is signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Gone With the Wind was published in May 1936 by Macmillan and this copy still has its original dust jacket. An immediate bestseller, a movie adaption of the novel followed in 1939. Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 thanks to this book.

  If you search on AbeBooks for another copy of Gone With the Wind, you will find that there are still many expensive ones available.

 

   The poor author does not benefit from any of this. She was struck by a drunk driver and killed in 1949. For a full accounting of this accident see my: "Martha Mitchell (1900 - 1949.)

   Although printed books have been devalued by many, others are willing to pay a lot for them. 

   Recently both Turner Classic Movies and HBO Max issued warnings for viewers about the content of the film version of Gone With the Wind. It doesn't look like booksellers are providing such alerts, but perhaps readers don't require them. 

The Bonus:

   Even business books can be very expensive. See: "Valuable Business Books."