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How to Identify a First Edition of The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A first edition of The Great Gatsby was published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1925, in dark green cloth, with the Scribner seal on the copyright page and no printing statement. The first printing is distinguished by a set of textual errors later corrected — the best known is "sick in tired" on page 205. The dust jacket is where most of the value sits, and it is very widely faked.

The first edition at a glance

Publisher
Charles Scribner's Sons
Published
1925
Original price
$2.00
Pages
218
Edition statement
The Scribner seal on the copyright page, with no statement of any later printing.

Identification checklist

  • Copyright page

    Carries the Charles Scribner's Sons seal and names no later printing. A copyright page missing the seal, or carrying a printing statement, is a later printing.

  • Binding

    Dark green cloth. Title and author blind-stamped on the front board; title, author's surname and publisher in gilt on the spine.

  • First-state text — page 205

    Lines 9–10 read "sick in tired" where later printings read "sick and tired". The best known of the first-state points.

  • First-state text — further points

    Four further locations are recorded as distinguishing the first state: page 60 line 16, page 119 line 22, page 165 line 16, and page 211 lines 7–8 ("Union Street station"). The page 205 reading above is the one this guide states in full; for the exact first-state and corrected wording at these four, check a descriptive bibliography or the source below against the copy in front of you.

  • Dust jacket — the lowercase j

    On the first-issue jacket, "jay Gatsby" appears on the rear panel with a lowercase j, which was corrected to an uppercase J. Accounts differ on whether that correction was printed or made by hand in ink on some copies, so expect to see either.

What does not make it a first edition

  • A first edition book in a facsimile jacket

    Almost all of Gatsby's value is in the jacket, which makes it one of the most reproduced jackets in modern collecting. A facsimile is usually detectable by paper feel and by the crispness of the printing under magnification. Treat any Gatsby jacket as suspect until proven otherwise.

  • A correct-looking copyright page, on its own

    On this title the text points are what settle it. A copyright page can be reproduced — reprint houses working from the original plates and book clubs both carry the printing history over — so the ABAA's advice is to read it against the foot of the spine, and here against the page 205 reading as well.

Think you have one?

Photograph the cover and the copyright page and FirstFinder will work out the edition and printing, then price it against copies that actually sold. What a specific copy is worth depends on its condition and its jacket, which is why there is no single number on this page.

Check your copy

Other identification guides

Sources