1925 First edition, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cloth bound novel entitled The Great Gatsby by the author F. Scott Fitzgerald published by Scribner’s Sons copyright New York, 1925 First edition
Replacement Value: $125,000
First published by Scribner’s in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book sold only 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. However, the novel experienced a revival during World War II, and became a part of American high school curricula and numerous stage and film adaptations in the following decades.
Today, The Great Gatsby 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.