The first edition of The Great Gatsby is Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, published on 10 April 1925 in a first printing of 20,870 copies. A first printing is identified by a handful of text readings that Fitzgerald corrected for the second printing that August. Its value turns almost entirely on the jacket, painted by Francis Cugat, which Peter Harrington has called one of the most enigmatic in modern literature.
The standard reference is Matthew J. Bruccoli's F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Descriptive Bibliography (1972). Dealers cite the first printing as Bruccoli A11.1.a and the second as A11.1.b.
How many were printed
Scribner printed 20,870 copies of the first impression, according to the Cambridge edition of the novel, which draws on Bruccoli. A second impression of 3,000 copies followed in August 1925, and it was enough to last Scribner sixteen years. Fitzgerald's royalty statement for the year to August 1940 records seven copies sold. Some dealers give "over 18,000" for the first printing; the Cambridge figure is the precise one.
The first-printing points
The Cambridge edition lists the readings that changed between the first and second printings. The three collectors check first:
| Page | First printing | Second printing |
|---|---|---|
| 60, line 16 | chatter | echolalia |
| 205, lines 9 to 10 | sick in tired | sickantired |
| 211, lines 8 to 9 | Union Street station | Union Station |
Page 119 is another: first printings read "northern", later ones "southern". The Union Street station reading has a story behind it. Fitzgerald's editor Maxwell Perkins inserted it after a query from Ring Lardner, and Fitzgerald had it changed for the second printing. A copy with all the early readings is a first printing; any corrected reading means a later one.
One misprint, "self-absorbtion" on page 119, survived into the second printing too, so it does not separate the first two printings.
The jacket
In August 1924, before the novel was finished, Fitzgerald asked Perkins to keep Cugat's painting for him, writing that he had "written it into the book". The original gouache is now at Princeton. It is the only jacket known to be Cugat's work.
Points to check on a jacket:
- The price. $2.00 on the front flap.
- The back panel. The hero's name was printed "jay Gatsby", with a small j, and corrected by hand on the jackets that went out. Sources describe the correction as ink or a stamp. Christie's calls the corrected jacket the first state; Rare Books Digest calls the uncorrected printing the first state and notes that no uncorrected copy is known to survive.
- The edges. The jacket was cut slightly too tall for the book, so its top and bottom edges chip easily. Expect some wear and look closely at restoration.
Facsimile jackets are common for Gatsby. Read our guide to facsimile dust jackets before buying a jacketed copy.
What it sells for
| Sale | Copy | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sotheby's New York, 2014 | Unrestored jacket, minimal chipping | $377,000 |
| Christie's London, 2023 | Corrected jacket (Charlie Watts sale) | £100,800 |
| Christie's New York, 2021 | Corrected jacket, restored | $93,750 |
A dealer priced an unrestored jacketed copy at about $360,000 in 2022. Without the jacket the book drops to the thousands: Rare Books Digest put jacketless firsts at $7,000 to $10,000 in 2012, and Peter Harrington estimated one of its copies at about £5,000 without the jacket. Inscribed copies are a class of their own.
The British edition (1926)
Chatto and Windus published the first British edition in 1926. It was printed in England from duplicate plates cast in New York from Scribner's corrected plates, so it has the second-printing readings. Estimates of its printing range from 1,500 to 3,000 copies. It is collected, and far cheaper than the American first; our guide to first edition vs first American edition explains how the two relate.
Fitzgerald's other firsts
- This Side of Paradise (Scribner, 26 March 1920). The first printing of 3,000 copies sold out in three days. Its copyright page reads "Published April, 1920" with the Scribner seal and no later printings.
- Tender Is the Night (Scribner, 12 April 1934). The copyright page carries the Scribner seal and an "A", and the first-state jacket has blurbs by T. S. Eliot, H. L. Mencken and Paul Rosenfeld. A signed copy in its jacket made $22,081 at RR Auction in 2020.
Check your copy
- Read the title page and copyright page: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1925.
- Turn to pages 60, 205 and 211 and check the readings in the table.
- On a jacket, check the $2.00 price and the corrected "jay Gatsby" on the back panel.
- Look hard at jacket restoration, and rule out a facsimile.
- Grade the book and jacket with our condition guide, then try Is my book valuable?.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my Great Gatsby is a first edition, first printing?
Check three readings: chatter on page 60, line 16 (later echolalia), sick in tired on page 205 (later sickantired) and Union Street station on page 211 (later Union Station). A first printing has all the early readings; the August 1925 second printing corrected them.
How many first editions of The Great Gatsby were printed?
Scribner printed 20,870 copies of the first impression in 1925, according to the Cambridge edition of the novel. A second impression of 3,000 copies followed in August 1925 and lasted Scribner sixteen years.
What is the jay Gatsby jacket error?
The back panel of the original jacket printed the hero's name as jay Gatsby, with a small j. On surviving jackets it was corrected by hand, by ink or a stamp. Sources disagree on whether the corrected jacket should be called the first or second state.
How much is a first edition Great Gatsby worth?
The jacket decides it. Jacketed copies have sold for $93,750 (Christie's 2021) to $377,000 (Sotheby's 2014). Without the jacket a first printing is worth a few thousand dollars, around $5,000 to $10,000 for good copies by most estimates.
Is the British Great Gatsby a first edition?
It is the first British edition, published by Chatto and Windus in 1926, but not the first edition. It was printed from plates cast from Scribner's corrected plates, so it has the second-printing readings.
Where these facts come from
- The Great Gatsby, Cambridge edition, ed. James L. W. West III, front matter, Cambridge University Press (assets.cambridge.org)
- Matthew J. Bruccoli, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- The Great Gatsby, first edition, Bauman Rare Books (baumanrarebooks.com)
- The Great Gatsby, first and second printings, The First Edition Rare Books (thefirstedition.com)
- The Great Gatsby dust jacket, Peter Harrington press release (prnewswire.co.uk)
- The Great Gatsby rare dust jacket, Rare Books Digest, 2012 (rarebooksdigest.com)
- Great Gatsby first edition sets new world record at Sotheby's, Paul Fraser Collectibles, 2014 (paulfrasercollectibles.com)
- The Great Gatsby, Christie's New York, 2021, lot 245 (as recorded by veryimportantlot.com) (veryimportantlot.com)
- The Great Gatsby, Christie's London, 2023, lot 58 (christies.com.cn)
- Rare first edition Great Gatsby priced at $360,000, Boston Globe, 2022 (bostonglobe.com)
- The Great Gatsby, first British edition, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
- This Side of Paradise, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Tender Is the Night, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Tender Is the Night, signed first edition, RR Auction, 2020 (rrauction.com)
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
Last reviewed 18 October 2026.