Dallas by Lee Raintree

Mississippi native Con Sellers lived a unique life that included 17 years in the military, an amateur boxing welterweight championship, and a writing career that churned out more than 230 books and hundreds of short stories using more than 60 pseudonyms. As a writer, his novels spanned many genres including military adventure, erotica, and historical romance. After years of struggling for success, he wrote his most famous book, Dallas.

In 1978, Sellers was contracted by Dell Books to write Dallas, a novelization based on the soon-to-be popular television program. Using television scripts from the show, Sellers wrote the book in six weeks using the pseudonym Lee Raintree. The popularity of the show helped sell the book (which had numerous printings and sold over 300,000 copies by 1979). The demand for Dallas also paid off for Sellers who received royalty checks ranging from $10,000 to $400,000 for his work on this book.

Special Collections has several editions of Dallas including a copy in Hebrew. In addition, the library has the manuscripts of Con Sellers which contains scripts from the show, the manuscript of the book with edits, and correspondence about his work on the book.

To view these materials, visit the 3rd floor of McCain Library. For more information, contact Jennifer Brannock at or 601.266.4347. To see more Items of the Month, click here.

Text by Jennifer Brannock, Curator of Rare Books & Mississippiana