(Gone With the Wind)

Typescript inscribed and signed by David O. Selznick ("David"), 256 pages (11 x 8 1/2 in.), n.p., 1939, being a script of the film Gone With the Wind; with 7 black and white photographs of scenes from the movie tipped in, light marginal browning.  Full maroon calf, spine and upper cover gilt-stamped with Gone with the Wind and "Joan Payson," original yellow wrappers bound in; upper cover cleanly detached, but present, corners and lower hinge rubbed. 

A presentation copy of Gone with the Wind's script, inscribed and signed by producer David O. Selznick to a founding owner of the New York Mets:  "For Joan, who never wavered!  With gratitude and devotion, David 1939."

Joan Whitney Payson (1903-75), married Charles Shipman Payson on 5 July 1924.  Payson was a large investor in Technicolor, the first company to film movies in color.  While the first movie filmed in Technicolor was not Gone with the Wind--it was actually  Becky Sharp--it was the first major film shot in Technicolor.  Mrs. Payson evidently spent many hours observing this new process during production.  She is also known for creating the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation in 1943, named after her mother, which stimulated and supported research in the area of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease; the Foundation later expanded its interests to include all basic biomedical sciences.  Mrs. Payson, however,  is probably best remembered for being a founding owner of the New York Mets baseball team.  She was an involved owner, attending and keeping records of most games.  Mrs. Payson also decided which players to hire, especially during the burgeoning years of the team.