Flappers and Philosophers
- SIGNED Original Cloth
- New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. First. Original Cloth. Very Good. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY FITZGERALD: "For Hazel Austin Walker / from California / by mistake / from / F Scott Fitzgerald." Flappers and Philosophers is the most difficult Fitzgerald book to find signed or inscribed. First edition, early printing (October 1920, one month after the first). F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote: "My theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward."1 In his first work of short stories, Flappers and Philosophers, a young Fitzgerald is clearly writing to his own generation. Published in 1920, Flappers and Philosophers was part of a magical year for Fitzgerald. His first novel, This Side of Paradise was published in March. A week later, he married Zelda and throughout the year he watched eight of his short stories published in quick succession from February through June in the established magazines of the time. One can imagine Fitzgerald buzzing for the entire year, gleefully soaking up his newfound status as established man of letters and husband to Zelda.
We have not been able to determine much about the recipient, Hazel Austin Walker, except that in 1913 she contributed to a California literary magazine ("The Californian and Overland Monthly") and by April 1920 she was living on West 115th Street in New York, which explains Fitzgerald's intriguing inscription. (Included with the Flappers is a second printing of This Side of Paradise with Walker's ownership inscription and address dated April 1920.)
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. Octavo, original dark green cloth; custom box. A few small tears to cloth at extremities. Spine gilt dulled. Tiny tear to top of spine cloth (reinforced). Inscription and signature exceptionally strong.
1 Letter to the Booksellers' Convention, April 1920; Andrew Turnbull (ed.) Selected Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1963).
We have not been able to determine much about the recipient, Hazel Austin Walker, except that in 1913 she contributed to a California literary magazine ("The Californian and Overland Monthly") and by April 1920 she was living on West 115th Street in New York, which explains Fitzgerald's intriguing inscription. (Included with the Flappers is a second printing of This Side of Paradise with Walker's ownership inscription and address dated April 1920.)
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. Octavo, original dark green cloth; custom box. A few small tears to cloth at extremities. Spine gilt dulled. Tiny tear to top of spine cloth (reinforced). Inscription and signature exceptionally strong.
1 Letter to the Booksellers' Convention, April 1920; Andrew Turnbull (ed.) Selected Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1963).