First Edition, First Issue of The Great Gatsby (Inscribed)
Invest Now-
$200,000
Initial Offering Marketing Cap -
$50
Initial Offering Share Price -
#GATSBY
Ticker -
09/2020
Initial Offering Date
Though his brilliance garnered him little financial success in his own lifetime, F. Scott Fitzgerald went on to be hailed as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. His third novel The Great Gatsby has been widely acclaimed as one of the Great American Novels, a perennial favorite often cited as a cautionary tale of the American Dream breaking bad.
#GATSBY Gallery
“…a first edition of Gatsby in the original jacket, with those eyes and lips suspended in a deep blue sky, is worth exponentially more, a quick leap from four figures to six.”
— Lapham’s Quarterly
#GATSBY Timeline
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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul, Minnesota, named after his second cousin, the lyricist of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Aug. 1896
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After being raised in New York, Fitzgerald leaves home and enrolls at Princeton University.
Jan. 1913
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Distracted by writing and relationships, the frustrated would-be author joins the Army and is stationed in Alabama.
Jan. 1917
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Fitzgerald’s debut of This Side of Paradise sufficiently impresses “golden girl” socialite Zelda Sayre, who accepts the up-and-coming novelist’s marriage proposal.
Mar. 1920
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Zelda gives birth to their only child “Scottie,” whom she refers to as a “beautiful little fool” — a line her husband later recycles for The Great Gatsby.
Oct. 1921
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Following turbulent “Jazz Age” party years and failed attempts at short stories and playwriting, Fitzgerald moves his family to the French Riviera.
Jan. 1924
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Lured back into a decadent lifestyle by European ex-pats, Fitzgerald struggles with the manuscript for his third novel about a freed slave, which is later reimagined into Jay Gatsby.
Jan. 1925
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The Great Gatsby is published. The book is received with conflicting reviews and weak sales. #GATSBY is printed as part of the first issue.
Apr. 1925
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Following years of excessive drinking, Fitzgerald dies of heart failure at age 44, still depressed at the thought that he was a commercial failure.
Dec. 1940
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During WWII, the Council on Books in Wartime sent 155,000 paperback copies of Gatsby to troops overseas, with the Saturday Evening Post noting the books were “as popular as pin-up girls.”
Jan. 1942
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By 1960, The Great Gatsby is steadily selling 50,000 copies per year and is proclaimed “a classic of twentieth-century American Fiction” by the New York Times.
Jan. 1960
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Following multiple film, radio, and play adaptations, Baz Luhrmann’s award-winning 2013 film is released starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, incorporating a hip-hop soundtrack by Jay-Z to refresh the work for a modern generation.
May 2013
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An unsigned first edition, first issue copy of The Great Gatsby sells for $377,000 at Sotheby’s.
Apr. 2014
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Rally enters into an agreement to acquire #GATSBY and offer it on the Rally platform.
May 2020
#GATSBY Details
Rally’s #GATSBY is an inscribed First Edition, First Issue copy of The Great Gatsby. Sporting an original second-state dust jacket designed by famed Spanish artist Francis Cugat, in 1939 (the year before his death at age 44), Fitzgerald inscribed #GATSBY to Tatnall Brown, banker, bibliophile, and former Dean of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Haverford College. Comparable copies have shown an appreciation of 3,724% since 1977, or an annual return of 9.3%. Notably, an unsigned First Edition First Issue copy in extremely good condition sold for $377,000 at Sotheby’s in 2014.
Invest Now| Financials | |
|---|---|
| Price Per Share | $50.00 |
| Number of Shares | 4,000 |
| Market Cap. | $200,000 |
| Storage Location | Rally |
| Asset Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Title | The Great Gatsby |
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| Edition | First Edition |
| Issue | First Issue |
| Dust Jacket | Second State |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Publication Date | 1925 |
| Binding | Hardcover |
| Book Condition | Unrestored, Near Fine |
| Inscriptions or NoteA17 | F. Scott Fitzgerald, Inscribed |
