Gatsby is one of the most sought-after titles in the Modern Library series, with a first edition copy going for $1,200 on eBay in December of 2002. It was also one of the poorest-selling titles in the series, with far fewer copies sold than the 5,000 printed for the first edition in 1934. Klopfer and Cerf kept it in the catalog for five years hoping it would sell (they really liked the book), but were forced to discontinue it in 1939.

While every book has the first edition slug, not every copy has the first edition dust jacket. There was a second printing in fall 1939 (268 titles) created especially to cover all unsold stock. All these jackets were hand-stamped "Discontinued Title.” (Click here to see some samples.) None of the first printing jackets were stamped.

The Modern Library edition is a cross-collectable. Fitzgerald collectors want it in part because of the introduction that he wrote especially for the Modern Library edition.

On April Fools Day 2005, modernlib life member and host of the Modern Library Mailing List John Krygier posted a great Gatsby spoof. Click here to read about it.

First binding style:     7

First inverse DJ number:     225 [NOT 268!!!]

First list entries       Heyward, Porgy, but not
                                 Hamsun, Growth of the Soil