F. Scott Fitzgerald on dust jackets

    From the Bauman Rare Books series, The Life of a Book, Part 6: The Dust Jacket, comes this history:

    From Disposable to Indispensable: In the first two decades of the 20th century the dust jacket evolved from a plain paper wrapper protecting the book during shipping, usually discarded upon purchase, to a colorful and carefully designed advertisement for the contents within that we now consider an integral part of the book. The iconic dust jacket of The Great Gatsby is itself something of a legend. According to one account, the jacket was actually commissioned months before the book was completed and Fitzgerald was so inspired by the haunting image of the eyes that he wrote a scene around it. “For Christ’s sake don’t give anyone that jacket,” he wrote to his publisher Max Perkins, “I’ve written it into the book.” Not only is the dust jacket one of the most recognizable of the 20th century, it is also one of the rarest.

    To see the dust jacket of the first edition of The Great Gatsby, click here.
    For a brief biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, click here. For images of or relating to F. Scott Fitzgerald, click here.