A first edition copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" sat in a box at Baldwin's Book Barn for nearly two months before it was discovered.
Store operator Thomas Baldwin said, "If you're a serious collector, you have to have this book." He wouldn't identify the man who left the book at his shop, but said he will receive a "very good" percentage of the book's proceeds. He expects the book to fetch more than $50,000.
Baldwin identified the book as a first edition because protagonist Jay Gatsby's first name on the dust jacket was accidentally printed with a lowercase "J," an error corrected in later editions.
Baldwin had advertised the book on eBay, and says that even before finding the typo he had received a bid of $23,000. He withdrew the book from the Internet auction service and plans to repost it with a more accurate description that he hopes will double the previous bid.
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Yes this book is quite a rare treasure. My grandfather has an original in mint condition and there's a collector in Canada that has offered to pay him $142,000 for it through a broker.
This morning while going through some of my books and listing them for sale on Amazon I noticed that my copy of The Great Gatsby was dated 1925. On the slim possibility that it was valuable I googled “The Great Gatsby first edition”. I looked at a site called Modern First Editions Blog and I about fainted.
# Published by Charles Scribner’s Sons - yes
# Date on 1925 on title page - yes
# Scribner seal on copyright page - yes
# On page 60, line 16 is the word “chatter” (later states read “echolalia”) - yes
# On page 119, line 22 is the word “northern” (later changed to “southern”) - yes
# On page 205 , lines 9-10 is the word “sick in tired” (later changed to “sickantired”) - yes
# On page 211, lines 7-8 is the words “Union Street Station” (later states read “Union Station”) - yes
I have no idea where or when I bought this book, but I have had it on the shelf for years. And it is in good condition.
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