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The Great Gatsby

Sold
£ 100 800
Auction dateClassic
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1016474
Lot 58 | The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

FITZGERALD, F. Scott (1896-1940). The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.



First edition of one of the century's most iconic and popular novels: first printing in the first state dust-jacket, with a lowercase ‘j’ in ‘Jay Gatsby’ on the rear panel hand-corrected in ink and with all other necessary points.



The dust-jacket for the first edition of The Great Gatsby is perhaps the most recognisable of any literary work. It was designed by Spanish artist Francis Cugat (1893-1981), a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, before the text of the novel was even completed and earned him a commission of $100. The haunting depiction of hypnotic eyes beaming like headlights through the cobalt sky is thought to have inspired Fitzgerald's description of the billboard for optometrist T. J. Eckleburg.



‘The Great Gatsby […] is Fitzgerald's most perfectly realized work of art. The novel reveals a new and confident mastery of his material, a fascinating if sensational plot, a Keatsian ability to evoke a romantic atmosphere, a set of memorable and deeply interesting characters, a witty and incisive social satire, a surprisingly effective use of allusions, an ambitious theme and a silken style that seems as fresh today as it did seventy years ago’ (Meyers, p. 122). Bruccoli A11.1.a; Connolly, The Modern Movement 48.



Octavo. Original linen-grain green cloth, titled in blind to front board, spine lettered in gilt (minor marks to spine); original first-state pictorial dust-jacket by Francis Cugat, with a lowercase ‘j’ in ‘Jay Gatsby’ on the rear panel hand-corrected in ink (lightly rubbed, chips to spine ends with minor loss to ‘Scribners’ at foot, a few smalls nicks or chips to edges and corners, some closed tears along folds or at upper edge, the longest 40mm, occasionally affecting printed letters, a few light creases, short pen mark on upper panel); custom blue quarter morocco box. Provenance: ‘Mrs Arthur E. Pew Jr.’ (inscription dated August 14th 1925 on front free endpaper).

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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