The Great Gatsby (1925)

The left page reads F. SCOTT FITZGERALD and below lists his Novels, which include THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED, and THE GREAT GATSBY. Below this is the word Stories, which is listed as FLAPPERS AND PHILOSOPHERS and TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE. Below this is the words And a Comedy and listed below is the title THE VEGETABLE. Below this it read CHARLES SCRIBNERs SONS. On the opposite page is the title THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Below this is a poem quotation which reads: Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Til she cry Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you! Following the poem is the quotation’s author, Thomas Parke DInvilliers Below this is handwritten text: These lines were actually written by Fitzgerald, & this was an undergraduate pen-name Fitzgerald used while at Princeton Below this is the publishers place, name, and year: New York Charles Scribners Sons 1925

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has been a staple on reading lists for the better part of a century.  One of the early reading lists to include Gatsby was from the “Council on Books in Wartime,” which issued the book, among other titles, to World War II soldiers.  Today Fitzgerald’s novel remains required reading for high schools and colleges all over the United States and beyond.  The novel sells 500,000 copies per year and has sold more than 30 million copies to date.  Its theme of American Dream disenchantment, as well as issues of class and race, have made it relevant despite the ever-changing academic and cultural climate, and for many decades, it has remained part of the collective imagination.  A 2013 movie version grossed over 350 million dollars worldwide.   

x Given the novel’s incredible stature, it is easy to forget that The Great Gatsby was a commercial failure upon its release in 1925, selling less than 20,000 copies.  The book would not sell well in the subsequent fifteen years, and it is said that when Fitzgerald died in 1940, he believed himself a failure whose work was already forgotten.  Not long after his death, however, the novel would receive a thorough reexamination, thanks to critics like Edmund Wilson, writers like John O’Hara, and biographer Arthur Mizener—influential writers who were among those that believed Fitzgerald had created an enduring work of fiction.  By the 1960s, the novel was selling fifty-thousand copies per year.

Because of its importance, first editions of The Great Gatsby are quite valuable.  These days, books are usually labeled as first editions on the title page, but in 1925 this was not necessarily the case.  The first edition of The Great Gatsby is known by the copyright year as well as five key typographical errors, one of which is on the back of the dust jacket.  Others are in the pages of the book, including on page 205 the words “…sick in tired” instead of the corrected version of “sick and tired.” 

A first edition of The Great Gatsby is located in Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi located in McCain Library.   For more information about this item or any of the materials in Special Collections, contact Andrew Rhodes at or 601-266-6765.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-gatsby60.html

Text by Andrew Rhodes, Special Collections Specialist.