The Great Gatsby.

FITZGERALD, F. Scott.

$975,000.00

Item Number: 147842

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.

First edition, first printing of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, inscribed by Fitzgerald to Zelda’s sister and her husband Newman Smith in the year of publication and in the exceptionally rare first issue dust jacket. Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. First printing 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. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “For Rosalind and Capitan with affection from Scott and Zelda June (May) 1925.” The recipients, Rosalind “Tootsie” Smith (Sayre) and Newman Smith.

The Fitzgeralds, on their European stay, were at Capri when The Great Gatsby was published (on 10 April 1925), moving to Paris later that month; they stayed in Paris until August, when they left for the Riviera. While on Capri Fitzgerald sent Scribner’s a number of inscriptions on slips of paper to be pasted in presentation copies sent to fellow writers: Sinclair Lewis, H.L. Mencken, Carl Van Doren, Van Wyck Brooks, etc. (see Letters, ed. Bruccoli, pp. 156-158). By the time of this inscription to Rosalind and Capitan, Fitzgerald had access to an actual copy of the first edition.

Bruccoli A11.1.a; Connolly, The Modern Movement 48.

Near fine in a very good first issue dust jacket, with the lowercase “j” in “jay Gatsby” on the back panel, corrected in ink. Jacket art by Francis Cugat. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

An outstanding association copy, exceedingly rare with a contemporary presentation inscription and in the scarce first issue dust jacket; perhaps the most iconic dust jacket of the 20th century.

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.”