Iconic Cover Artwork: The Great Gatsby

Probably the most celebrated in all of American literature ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ [Logo]( [The Great Gatsby firs edition copy]( It’s one of the most recognizable and celebrated book covers in the history of American literature. Francis Cugat’s iconic painting of a disembodied flapper's face hovering over a nighttime cityscape has become inextricably linked to The Great Gatsby. Cugat finished the design before Fitzgerald completed the manuscript, resulting in a collaboration between the artist and the author. Fitzgerald loved the artwork so much that he rewrote parts of the book to incorporate it better. As a result, Cugat's Celestial Eyes acts as a pictorial prologue to the work. [SEARCH FOR COPIES]( [The Great Gatsby]( The little-known Spanish graphic designer Francis Cugat received a summary of the novel with the working title Among Ash Heaps and Millionaires. From that, he began making various sketches featuring the disembodied face of a flapper suspended over a New York cityscape. After several revisions, the artist completed the final cover in gouache. Since The Great Gatsby's first appearance in 1925, there have been many covers – even the controversial movie tie-in edition, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio – but definitely there's none more suitable than the celestial eyes. [The Great Gatsby]( The Great Gatsby is undoubtedly one of the greatest American literary documents of the 1920s, but the novel’s initial sales situation was less than impressive. Fewer than 25,000 copies were sold by Fitzgerald’s death in 1940. It gained great popularity during WWII when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free copies to American soldiers serving overseas, and the critical mainstream began to embrace the author’s work. The Armed Services Editions circulated 150,000 copies to troops alone. This wartime edition was specially designed to fit in the pocket of an American GI. [The Great Gatsby]( Today, The Great Gatsby has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, sells an additional 500,000 copies annually, and is Scribner's most popular title. Fitzgerald's masterpiece has come to be one of the defining cultural artifacts of the Jazz Age. And, despite dozens of cover redesigns, it is the original cover that has kept it in print. [GET A COPY]( EXPLORE F. SCOTT FITZGERALD'S WORKS [This side of Paradise]( [See all listings]( [The Beautiful and Damned]( [See all listings]( [Tender is the Night]( [See all listings]( [The Last Tycoon]( [See all listings]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [X.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Biblio.com · PO Box 1211 · Asheville, NC 28802 · USA