F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, frequently called “the great American novel,” was first published on April 10, 1925. It was not an instant sensation. Although all the copies from the first run of 20,870 sold, many copies from the second run languished in a warehouse until Fitzgerald’s death in 1940 at the age of 44. It wasn’t until the mid-1940s that there was a resurgence of interest in The Great Gatsby.


In the 1950s, The Great Gatsby became widely popular, deemed a masterpiece of American literature, and studied in classrooms across America.

Who Was F. Scott Fitzgerald?

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a famous author of his day and was known nearly as much for his wild personal life as he was for his writings.

Born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (he was a distant relative on his father’s side of the author of the National Anthem) was the only son of Edward Fitzgerald, an unsuccessful salesman, and Mollie McQuillan, the daughter of a successful Irish immigrant grocer.

Fitzgerald fell in love while at Princeton, lost her, dropped out of Princeton, and then got back in. When the United States joined World War I, Fitzgerald left Princeton and joined the army in November 1917. It was while stationed at Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama for training that he met Zelda Sayre and the two fell madly in love. It was Zelda to whom Fitzgerald would later dedicate The Great Gatsby – “Once Again to Zelda.”

In 1920, Fitzgerald published his first book, This Side of Paradise, and a week later, married Zelda. The book made 24-year-old Fitzgerald famous and the young couple soon lived from party to party.  

Fitzgerald continued writing, including many short stories, a play, and more novels. In October 1921, the couple had their first and only child, Frances Scott (“Scottie”) Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, fame, fortune, and alcohol were starting to destroy the Fitzgeralds. To escape their problems and get a fresh start, they moved to France in 1924.

It was in Europe that F. Scott Fitzgerald finished his novel, The Great Gatsby. It was to become his masterpiece but it was not recognized as such during his lifetime. When The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, sales were low. 

Life was starting to unravel for Fitzgerald. While in France, Fitzgerald’s alcoholism and outrageous behavior tried the patience of even his closest friends. And then Zelda had an affair with a French naval aviator, which devastated Fitzgerald. To escape these problems, the Fitzgeralds spent some time in Italy and then headed back to the United States, settling in 1927 in Delaware.

However, the Fitzgerald’s problems followed them there as well. On top of their previous problems, the couple spent money faster than Fitzgerald could make it and so debt was a constant problem. Unwilling and unable to cut their lavish expenses, Fitzgerald decided to focus on quick, easy money by publishing popular articles rather than lengthy, artistic novels.

In the 1930s, Zelda’s actions started to become very strange. She would dance all day and night, allegedly practicing to become a ballerina. Ultimately, she was admitted to a sanatorium in 1936.

In 1937, Fitzgerald went to Hollywood and fell in love with Sheilah Graham. The two stayed together until 44-year-old Fitzgerald died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940. When F. Scott Fitzgerald died, he thought himself a failure. He had no idea that he would soon be hailed one of the best writers of the 20^th century.

Publishing The Great Gatsby

When F. Scott Fitzgerald was in France, he finished his novel, The Great Gatsby. It had taken him three years to write it and, despite being drunk through much of his life, took his art seriously enough to remain sober while doing the actual writing.

In late October 1924, Fitzgerald mailed a typewritten copy of The Great Gatsby to Maxwell Perkins, a literary editor at Scribner’s, and then headed to Italy in an attempt to heal his marriage after Zelda’s infidelity. Perkins realized that Fitzgerald’s novel was something new and unique.

After a few revisions, which Fitzgerald completed while in Italy, Fitzgerald sent his final draft on February 18, 1925. While waiting for his new novel to be published, Fitzgerald had second thoughts about his title, considering perhaps changing it to “Trimalchio in West Egg.” Perkins, on the other hand, preferred "The Great Gatsby" and that is exactly how it was published on April 10, 1925.

The first edition of The Great Gatsby consisted of 20,870 copies, sold at $2.00 each. When these sold out, a second edition was printed in August 1925, consisting of 3,000 copies. These did not sell out until after Fitzgerald’s death 15 years later.

The money from the actual sale of the novel The Great Gatsby barely covered F. Scott Fitzgerald’s advance. However, Fitzgerald did make another $35,000 ($459,000 in today’s money) from a play of The Great Gatsby that opened in February 1926 in New York and from film rights. Despite these additional funds, the profits of The Great Gatsby were far below even one year of Fitzgerald’s usual, yet exorbitant, expenses.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, later deemed one of the greatest American writers of the 20^th century, spent the rest of his short life working mainly on shorter, less artsy, writing endeavors simply because they paid better.