The Great Gatsby.

First edition, first state of Fitzgerald's "most perfectly realized work of art" with "chatter" p.60, "northern" p.119, "sick in tired" p.205, and "Union Street station" p.211. Octavo, original dark green cloth with gilt titles to the spine. Accompanied by a typed letter signed by American editor Maxwell Perkins on Charles Scribner’s Sons letterhead. Best remembered for discovering F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and James Jones, Maxwell Perkins made his first big find in 1919 when he signed F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was, at first, the only editor at Scribners that saw potential in The Romantic Egotist, the working title of Fitzgerald’s first novel, and it was rejected. Even so, Perkins worked with Fitzgerald to revise the manuscript until it was accepted by the publishing house. Its publication as This Side of Paradise (1920) marked the arrival of a new literary generation that would always be associated with Perkins. Maxwell Perkins, considered by many the greatest book editor of all time, left a monumental legacy in his thirty-seven years at the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons, helping shape literature. After working as a reporter for The New York Times, Perkins joined Scribner's Sons in 1910 as an advertising manager, before becoming an editor. At that time, Scribner's was known for publishing older authors such as John Galsworthy, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Perkins, however, wished to publish younger writers. Unlike most editors, he actively sought out promising new authors; he made his first big find in 1919 when he signed F. Scott Fitzgerald. Initially, no one at Scribner's except Perkins had liked The Romantic Egotist, the working title of Fitzgerald's first novel, and it was rejected. Even so, Perkins worked with Fitzgerald to revise the manuscript until it was accepted by the publishing house. Its publication as This Side of Paradise (1920) marked the arrival of a new literary generation that would always be associated with Perkins. Fitzgerald's profligacy and alcoholism strained his relationship with Perkins. Nonetheless, Perkins remained Fitzgerald's friend to the end of Fitzgerald's short life, in addition to his editorial relationship with the author, particularly evidenced in The Great Gatsby (1925), which benefited substantially from Perkins' criticism. It was also through Fitzgerald that Perkins met Ernest Hemingway, publishing his first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, in 1926. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very nice example.