1976-1983. Thirteen pieces of correspondence (8 typed letters signed; 4 typed notes signed; and one autograph postcard signed) from Dian Fossey to her editors at Houghton Mifflin, from 1976 to 1983, the year Gorillas in the Mist was published. The correspondence begins with a letter in which Fossey admits she is finding the writing difficult, "as ten years of work seems about 9 1/2 too many for recollection's sake." Next comes a note as news bulletin: "ICARUS JUST BEAT MARCHESSA TO DEATH!! This book is going to sound like a Shakespearean play." There are several letters transmitting chapters, with various strategies for organization, including the ordering of events so that the reader will "feel for" the gorillas. She also speaks of teaching at Cornell; travel plans; reading The Selfish Gene (by Richard Dawkins); having an article due for National Geographic; being nominated for the Getty Wildlife Conservation Award; and being hospitalized with a ruptured disc and then pneumonia. Not long after, she writes of the death of (the gorilla) Bon Annee, also of pneumonia. In 1982: "I STILL DON'T HAVE A TITLE." In the letters following publication, Fossey sends detailed corrections for later printings; requests and responds to information about sales and marketing (she is "horrified" that a NYT ad was $6500: "Gosh, what that kind of money could mean to Karisoke [Research Centre] is not to be believed. There wouldn't be a poacher left within a five mile radius of camp!"); she takes issues with some erroneous reviews; and she offers her thoughts on her book tour. The final letter here concludes with her writing that she was thrilled that on tour she was "able to push gorillas, not myself or (uukgk) chimpanzees. What do you want to bet that most authors are 'tired' simply because they are trying to push their own images. Now, isn't that the most boring thing in the world?!" Fossey was murdered by machete in Rwanda two years later; her murder is officially "unsolved." Her work continues under the auspices of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Gorillas in the Mist was made into a Hollywood movie in 1988 starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey, which was nominated for five Academy Awards. Two retained letters and an internal memo are included here; the lot is fine. [#036697] $15,000