Flappers and Philosophers

New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920. Full Description:

FITZGERALD, F. Scott. Flappers and Philosophers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920.

First edition. First printing with "Published September, 1920" and the Scribner's seal on the copyright page. In the rare first issue original pictorial dust jacket. Fine in near fine dust jacket with some professional restoration – shows extremely well. This is the scarcest of all the Fitzgerald books to find in Dust jacket. There has been no copy in jacket at auction since 2013 and it had some repairs. Before that it was in 1977, the Goodwin copy. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 1/8 inches; 190 (truncated) x 130 mm). [viii], [1]-269, [1, blank] pp.

Publisher's original dark green cross-hatch cloth. Front board lettered in blind. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge brown, other's uncut. Final blank is roughly and partially opened, leaving a short, closed tear. A few mild scuffs to cloth. Some very light spotting to endpapers and about 4 other leaves. Jacket is tissue backed along folds, top and bottom edges. The upper extremity of the front panel and head of spine with some infill, but nearly invisible, just touching the top of two letters "FL". Some minor restoration to bottom of jacket spine. A short closed tear to rear panel through one letter. Some professional touch-ups to color around letters at the top front of jacket. Overall jacket is exceptionally clean and bright. Overall a near fine example of the book. Housed in a full morocco clamshell.

One of 5,000 copies of the first printing, this is Fitzgerald's first book of short stories. Published just six months after Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, Flappers and Philosophers contains "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a contender for his finest and most famous short story.

Flappers and Philosophers is virtually unobtainable in dust jacket. It is the most elusive of mainstream twentieth century jackets. The front flap hypes this book and the back flap hypes This Side of Paradise; the back panel ads begin with Eskine Dale and ends with On a Passing Frontier; jacket conforms with the bibliography (Bruccoli).

Bruccoli, Fitzgerald, A6.1a.

HBS 69171.

$45,000. (Inventory #: 69171)