Books: The New Literary Appreciation

In 1936 F. Scott Fitzgerald's royalties amounted to $81.18. Late last month, a signed first edition of The Great Gatsby was auctioned at Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York City for $4,250. Critic Malcolm Cowley's copy of Gatsby was knocked down at $1,000, and his copy of Tender Is the Night, inscribed by the author, went for $3,200. Dozens of other major and minor writers of the 1920s were similarly appreciated. William Faulkner's The Marble Faun—well preserved and signed —brought $6,250; William Carlos Williams' scarce first book Poems went for $16,000. When the...