The following article appeared in The Palm Beach Daily News on May 2, 2025:
Jodie Wagner
Palm Beach Daily News
A rare first edition of the literary classic “The Great Gatsby” is up for sale in Palm Beach, with an asking price just shy of $1 million.
Raptis Rare Books, at 329 Worth Ave., has acquired a first printing of the 100-year-old novel, inscribed by author F. Scott Fitzgerald to his wife’s sister and her husband, and still housed in its rare original dust jacket, owner Matthew Raptis told the Daily News.
It carries a price tag of $975,000.
The novel’s dust jacket, created by Francis Cugat in 1924 and featuring the likeness of a woman’s face with large eyes set against a blue night sky filled with city lights, is one of the most “iconic” of the 20th century, Raptis said.
The dust jacket was designed before Fitzgerald had completed the manuscript, Raptis added. Commissioned by publisher Charles Scribner’s Sons to create the cover, Cugat received little guidance, relying instead on his grasp of the novel’s central themes: wealth, excess, and the fading American Dream.
“The jacket’s very rare,” Raptis told the Daily News. “It’s the iconic dust jacket with the Francis Cugat eyes. F. Scott Fitzgerald actually wrote that into the novel, when he saw the dust jacket, which is pretty interesting.”
Raptis described the novel as an “amazing” association copy, meaning it holds special significance because of its connection to the author or an important figure related to the book.
Inscribed by the author in the year it was published, the novel’s front endpaper reads: “For Rosalind and Capitan with affection from Scott and Zelda June (May) 1925.”
Rosalind Sayre Smith, the sister of Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, was married to Judge Newman “Cap” Smith.
“There aren’t many inscribed copies,” Raptis said. “Because (Fitzgerald) was in Europe at this time, and the first edition obviously came out in New York. Scribner published it, and then he wasn’t able to sign them. So when he came back to the States, he was signing later printings, second printings, third printings, fourth printings. This one is a first-edition, first printing inscribed. That’s the scarcity.”
“The Great Gatsby,” originally published on April 10, 1925, is marking its 100th anniversary this year.
Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, New York, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway’s interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire with an obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The novel is included in numerous “best novels” lists, such as Modern Library’s “100 Best Novels” and Time Magazine’s “Top 100 English-Language Novels” since 1923. It has been adapted into multiple films and stage productions.
“It’s one of the highlights of 20th century literature,” Raptis said. “It might be the Great American Novel.”
Raptis Rare Books is an antiquarian bookstore specializing in fine first editions, signed and inscribed books, and landmark works in all fields.
