Lot 127: FITZGERALD, FRANCIS SCOTT. 1896-1940.

This Side of Paradise. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. 8vo. Original cloth. Morocco-backed solander box. Endpapers toned, a few leaves with very light marginal dampstain, upper hinge strengthened, upper cover very slightly bubbled, head of spine touched up.

First edition, inscribed by Fitzgerald: "To Pete Compton, a wild man if ever there was one - F. Scott Fitzgerald, Princeton NJ, March 27th 1920" - the day after publication of this, his debut novel. The first edition sold out two days later, and within a week Fitzgerald married Zelda. The protagonist is, as his creator had been, a Princeton undergraduate; it is probable that the recipient of this copy was a fellow alumnus. Bruccoli A5.1.a.
See illustration.