When was The Great Gatsby published?
Charles Scribner's Sons published The Great Gatsby on the 10th of April 1925. The novel initially sold fewer than 20,000 copies and was considered a commercial failure during Fitzgerald's lifetime.
Common questions about The Great Gatsby
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who inspired the character of Jay Gatsby?
The character of Jay Gatsby was partly inspired by a local figure named Max Gerlach, a self-made millionaire and gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York. Gerlach was a major in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I and used the phrase old sport, which became a signature of Gatsby.
What real-life event influenced the plot of The Great Gatsby?
The daily newspapers sensationalized the Hall-Mills murder case over many months, and the highly publicized case likely influenced the plot of Fitzgerald's novel. The case involved the double-murder of a man and his lover on the 14th of September 1922, mere weeks before Fitzgerald arrived in Great Neck.
Who designed the cover art for The Great Gatsby?
A little-known Barcelonan painter named Francis Cugat, born Francisco Coradal-Cougat, was commissioned by Scribner's art department to illustrate the cover while Fitzgerald was composing the novel. Cugat's final cover, known as Celestial Eyes, depicts the disembodied face of a Jazz Age flapper with celestial eyes and rouged mouth over a dark blue skyline.
How many copies of The Great Gatsby were distributed to U.S. soldiers during World War II?
Within the next several years, 155,000 copies of Gatsby were distributed to U.S. soldiers overseas as part of the Council on Books in Wartime's Armed Services Editions program. This distribution occurred between 1942 and 1945, helping to revive the novel's popularity after it had fallen into near obscurity.
When did The Great Gatsby enter the public domain?
The novel's U.S. copyright expired on the 1st of January 2021, when it, along with all the other literature of 1925, entered the public domain. Since then, numerous altered and incomplete reprints have flooded the market.