Once belonged to the critic and author Malcolm Cowley, First edition of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is on offer on 11 June 2013 at Sotheby’s sale in New York. The Books and Manuscripts sale among the others will offered a Fitzgerald’s masterpiece which expected to fetch $100,000-$150,000.
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.
Previous owner Malcom Cowley is known as one of the most influential figures of American letters. He is known for championing generations of authors from Hart Crane and Faulkner to John Cheever, Jack Keroauc and through to Ken Kesey. He had a particular affinity for Fitzgerald though, adding immensely to the critical reassessment of his work begun in the 1940’s after his death. In his copy of The Great Gatsby Cowley has transcribed over 100 notes and comments made by Fitzgerald, which is now in the collection of Princeton University.
On the sale will be also other Fitzgerald materials including a group of letters in which the author writes to the host of a dinner apologizing for being inebriated at a party along with an unpunished five stanza poem. This material is expected to fetch about $20,000-$30,000.
