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Feb 19, 2006 6:38 pm US/Pacific
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Faulkner Letter Fetches Nearly $18,000
HOLLYWOOD (CBS) ―
A letter written by William Faulkner complaining to his agent about being conned into a screenwriting contract with Warner Bros. sold for almost $18,000.
The letter, estimated to sell for between $2,500 and $3,500 fetched more than expected, said Catherine Williamson of Bonhams & Butterfields.
The typed letter to his Hollywood literary agent H.N. Swanson, complained how his former agent had tricked him into signing a seven year contract and how his old agent threatened to bring suit.
The two page letter, signed "Bill" was written in August 1943 and sold for $17,925.
Several letters by F. Scott Fitzgerald were up for auction, including a hand-written apology to his agent for behavior while on a binge. The letter, also to Swanson, sold for just over $4,400, less than the expected selling price of between $5,000 and $7,000.
"The typist here the other day told me that I did a lot of swearing and shouting over the phone when I talked to you the other day," wrote Fitzgerald, near the time in 1939 that he was let go by MGM and struggled as a freelance writer. "In any case my binge is over and I'm going ahead figuring how I can write a novel (over) and let it pay for itself as it's written," the pencil-written letter continued.
The buyers of the letters could not be disclosed per the company privacy policies.
According to Williamson, letters were becoming a trend for those interested in rare books wishing to expand their collections into other materials. "The Faulkner and the Fitzgerald material was incredibly hot," Williamson said. "Even typewritten you get a sense of who Faulkner is, it's (the letter) long and complicated."
Faulker and Fitzgerald may have been known as two of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Faulkner wrote several screenplays including "The Big Sleep" and "To Have and Have Not."
Fitzgerald was best known for his novel "The Great Gatsby." He struggled with the screenplay structure and battled with his increasing dependence of alcohol.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)