The Great Gatsby.

FITZGERALD, F. Scott.

Item Number: 141091

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

First edition, first printing of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece with “chatter” on p. 60, line 16; “northern” on p. 119, line 22; “it’s” on p. 165, line 16; “away” on p. 165, line 29; “sick in tired” on p. 205, lines 9-10; and “Union Street station” on p. 211, lines 7-8. Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. Near fine in a very good first issue dust jacket, with the lowercase “j” in “jay Gatsby” on the back panel, hand-corrected in ink. The dust jacket has had expert restoration, which appears to be trimmed. Jacket art by Francis Cugat. Bookplate of Mary Mattern to the front pastedown. Ownership signature, (“J.F. Brown New Haven 1925”) to the front free endpaper. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Exceptionally rare in the first issue dust jacket; perhaps the most iconic dust jacket of the 20th century. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

In 1922, Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Cyril Connolly called The Great Gatsby one of the half dozen best American novels: "Gatsby remains a prose poem of delight and sadness which has by now introduced two generations to the romance of America, as Huckleberry Finn and Leaves of Grass introduced those before it" (Modern Movement 48). Consistently gaining popularity after World War II, the novel became an important part of American high school curricula. Today it is widely considered to be a literary classic and a contender for the title "Great American Novel". In 1998, the Modern Library editorial board voted it the 20th century's best American novel and second best English-language novel of the same time period. It was the basis for numerous stage and film adaptations. Gatsby had four film adaptations, with two exceptionally big-budget versions: the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, as well as Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 version starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carrie Mulligan. Fitzgerald’s granddaughter praised Lurhmann’s adaptation, stating “Scott would be proud.”