Novelist; The Great Gatsby, etc. Wonderful 5 x 7.5 page from one of Fitgerald’s works, showing a small portrait of Fitzgerald above a printed “Author’s Apology” which reads, in part: “I don’t want to talk about myself because I’ll admit I did that somewhat in this book. In fact, to write it took three months; to conceive it—three minutes; to collect the data in it—all my life…An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward. So, gentlemen, consider all the cocktails mentioned in this book drunk by me as a toast to the American Booksellers Association.” Boldly signed in the lower right corner, “Sincerely, F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Very mild soiling in a couple places, and light roughness along right edge where it was removed from the book (easily matted out), otherwise condition is fine. Fitzgerald composed this “apology” to be tipped into copies of the third printing of This Side of Paradise and distributed at the May 1920 convention of the American Bookseller’s Association, and it offers evidence of the public author/genius pose he was adopting at the beginning of his career. While jokingly connecting his writing of the novel with the beginning of Prohibition, “The Author’s Apology” contributed to the false image of Fitzgerald as a natural but careless writer who dashed off stories and novels between benders. Accompanied by a terrific bookweight portrait of Fitzgerald writing, suitable for matting. An extremely desirable, and equally elusive, American literary autograph…and probably the closest you’ll find to a signed photo of Fitzgerald! COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
