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“With the Pleasant memories of La Paix behind me alas and alack!": Extremely Rare Presentation Copy of THE GREAT GATSBY, Wonderfully inscribed by Fitzgerald
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Great Gatsby.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1925.
Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “With the Pleasant memories of La Paix behind me alas and alack! Souvenir of 1932–1933 for M.T. from her – at least from one who was almost made to feel like – a guest. F. Scott Fitzgerald.” The recipient, Margaret Turnbull, who with her husband Bayard owned La Paix, a 28–acre estate with a large Victorian house near Towson, Maryland. The Fitzgeralds rented La Paix from the Turnbulls in 1932 and 1933 because of its proximity to the Phipps Clinic, the psychiatric branch of Johns Hopkins, where Zelda was being treated. This is also where Fitzgerald finished work on his second masterpiece, Tender is the Night. The Turnbulls lived nearby in another house on the estate; while Bayard Turnbull disapproved of Fitzgerald, his wife Martha shared an interest in literature with him and became a good friend of him. According to her son, at their first dinner together “Fitzgerald grew heated on the subject of Thomas Wolfe and left the table to get his copy of ‘Look Homeward, Angel’, which he insisted my mother take with her and read at once… Out of such treads their friendship was woven. Each time they met here was a carry–over from the previous meeting – something to discuss that seemed of vital importance… He was constantly lending my mother books: Proust, D.H. Lawrence, Hemingway, Rilke, the diary of Otto Braun… My mother became for a brief season a listener to and therefore a sharer of his thoughts” (Turnbull, Scott Fitzgerald, pp. 221–240). It was Margaret Turnbull who introduced Fitzgerald to T.S. Eliot when the poet was staying with her family while lecturing at Johns Hopkins on the Metaphysical Poets. Bruccoli A11.1.b; Connolly, The Modern Movement 48. In near fine condition with the spine gilt exceptionally bright. First edition, second printing with “sickantired” on page 205, most inscribed copies are second printings. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional association, most rare and desirable.
Price: $250,000.00 Item Number: 135650
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"In memory of that week we went rowing in a bull-fiddle through the lovely lakes of Central Park": Exceptionally Rare Presentation Copy of The Great Gatsby; with a beautiful full-page inscription signed by F. Scott Fitzgerald
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Great Gatsby.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1925.
First edition, second issue of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece with all six second issue points present, including: “echolalia” on page 60, “southern” on page 119, “sickantired” on page 205, and “Union Station” on page 211. Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Theodore L. Liedemedt in memory of that week we went rowing in a bull-fiddle through the lovely lakes of Central Park, from Stravinski (Alias F. Scott Fitzgerald) May 1885 ‘Stuttgart.'” The recipient, Theodore L. Liedemedt, was a German-born musician and close personal friend of Fitzgerald’s. Kept in Liedemedt’s family for over ninety years, family lore has it that the two first met on board a transatlantic ship crossing in the 1920s (Fitzgerald traveled to Europe in 1921, 1924, 1928, and 1929). Liedemedt was a working musician who performed on some of those crossings. He died in 1929, just making it to 30. Fitzgerald, older only by three years, just outlived his friend, dying in 1940 at 44. A South New Jerseyian in the later part of his short life, Liedemedt arrived on American shores in 1915 during the First World War. He worked first on the crew of a German merchantman, interned in the Delaware River, then from June 1916 at a day job in Philadelphia. When the United States entered the First World War officially on April 6, 1917, Liedemedt was detained by the FBI on April 7. He was released a few days later when they found that he did not hare the political convictions of his home country and was, therefore, not a threat to the United States. Fitzgerald took up residence in New Jersey in in 1911 when he attended the Newman School, a Catholic prep school in Hackensack. After graduating he attending Princeton University, only a few miles from Liedemedt’s stomping grounds, where Fitzgerald abruptly left in 1917 to join the American Army. Having avoided active service in Europe he moved to New York City where he would begin his career as a writer. Fitzgerald and Liedemedt were never more than roughly 80 miles from each other, from Liedemedt’s landing in 1915 to his early death 14 years later. The nature of the inscription—knowing, familiar, full of inside references—points to an intimacy not documented in an other sources in Fitzgerald’s archives. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional inscription from Fitzgerald.
Price: $200,000.00 Item Number: 138936
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Facsimile Manuscript of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Great Gatsby Manuscript Facsimile.
Washington, D.C: Microcard Editions Books 1973.
The facsimile manuscript edition of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece. Quarto, original cloth, illustrated. Near fine in a near fine slipcase. Edited and with an introduction by Matthew Bruccoli.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 140683
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FIRST EDITION OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD'S THE GREAT GATSBY; with a rare Scribner's 'Compliments of the Publishers' card signed by Fitzgerald's editor Maxwell Perkins
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Great Gatsby.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1925.
First edition, first state of Fitzgerald’s “most perfectly realized work of art” with “chatter” p.60, “northern” p.119, “sick in tired” p.205, and “Union Street station” p.211. Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. With a rare Scribner’s ‘With the Compliments of the Publishers’ card signed by Fitzgerald’s editor, Maxwell Perkins, “Max” laid in. Maxwell Perkins, considered by many the greatest book editor of all time, left a monumental legacy in his thirty-seven years at the publishing house of Charles Scribner’s Sons, helping shape literature by discovering and guiding several highly influential writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and James Jones. After working as a reporter for The New York Times, Perkins joined Scribner’s Sons in 1910 as an advertising manager, before becoming an editor. At that time, Scribner’s was known for publishing older authors such as John Galsworthy, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Perkins, however, wished to publish younger writers. Unlike most editors, he actively sought out promising new authors; he made his first big find in 1919 when he signed F. Scott Fitzgerald. Initially, no one at Scribner’s except Perkins had liked The Romantic Egotist, the working title of Fitzgerald’s first novel, and it was rejected. Even so, Perkins worked with Fitzgerald to revise the manuscript until it was accepted by the publishing house. Its publication as This Side of Paradise (1920) marked the arrival of a new literary generation that would always be associated with Perkins. Fitzgerald’s profligacy and alcoholism strained his relationship with Perkins. Nonetheless, Perkins remained Fitzgerald’s friend to the end of Fitzgerald’s short life, in addition to his editorial relationship with the author, particularly evidenced in The Great Gatsby (1925), which benefited substantially from Perkins’ criticism. It was also through Fitzgerald that Perkins met Ernest Hemingway, publishing his first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, in 1926. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco and folding chemise slipcase. A very nice example, Scribner’s ‘Compliments’ cards signed by Perkins are rare.
Price: $16,000.00 Item Number: 146995
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First Edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon; Signed by Nobel Prize-winning author and screenwriter Harold Pinter
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT [HAROLD PINTER].
The Last Tycoon. An Unfinished Novel. Together with The Great Gatsby and Selected Stories.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1941.
First edition with the “A” and the publisher’s seal on the copyright page. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Harold Pinter, who wrote the screenplay to the 1976 film The Last Tycoon, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Robert DeNiro, Tony Curtis and Jack Nicholson. Near fine in near fine dust jacket. Foreword by Edmund Wilson. A unique example.
Price: $7,200.00 Item Number: 126456
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First Editions of Each of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Works; Finely Bound by The Harcourt Bindery
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. This Side of Paradise, Flappers and Philosophers, Tales of the Jazz Age, The Beautiful and Damned, The Vegetable, The Great Gatsby, All the Sad Young Men, Taps at Reveille, Tender is the Night, The Last Tycoon.
New York: Charles Scribners 1920-1935.
First edition, first printings of each of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works. Octavo, 10 volumes, bound by full green morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, twin rule to turn ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. F. Scott Fitzgerald signature on the front panel of each volume. In fine condition. An exceptional set.
Price: $22,500.00 Item Number: 139788
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First Edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
The Last Tycoon. An Unfinished Novel. Together with The Great Gatsby and Selected Stories.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1941.
First edition with the Scribner’s A and the publisher’s seal on the copyright page. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in very good dust jacket. Foreword by Edmund Wilson. A nice example.
Price: $975.00 Item Number: 144171
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"If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God's sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of faith": First Edition of Tender Is the Night; Inscribed by F. Scott Fitzgerald
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT.
Tender Is The Night. A Romance. Decorations by Edward Shenton.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1934.
First edition of the work which Fitzgerald considered to be his finest. Octavo, original green cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For the unknown, unmet parents of Clare (note: double underlined). Knowing her, I hope you will find something to like in this present. Best wishes, F. Scott Fitzgerald.” A very good example with some wear to the crown and foot of the spine, extremities of the cloth in a very good unrestored first issue dust jacket that has some rubbing and wear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise case.
Price: $62,000.00 Item Number: 3071