Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Chris Bennett An alum donated three rare books in December, including a copy of "The Great Gatsby" with a note from T.S. Eliot.

A first edition copy of "The Great Gatsby" inscribed with a note from F. Scott Fitzgerald to T.S. Eliot was one of three rare books donated to the John Hay Library by Daniel Siegel '57 in December. In addition to "Gatsby," Siegel donated a copy of the first English edition of "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" by Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and "The Quadrupeds of North America" by naturalist John James Audubon.

Fitzgerald's inscription in "The Great Gatsby" reads "For T.S. Elliot/Greatest of Living Poets/ from his entheusiastic/worshipper/F. Scott Fitzgerald/Paris Oct./ 1925." indicating not only that Fitzgerald was a poor speller, but also that he thought highly of Eliot, said Sam Streit, director of special collections at the John Hay Library.

"The fact that Fitzgerald, who was no slouch of an author in his own right, would be in such praise of Eliot is part of what makes (the inscription) important," Streit said.

Eliot also made notes along the margins of the book, remarking on Fitzgerald's word choices and writing his own choices. Eliot may have been making notes on the book's possible future for a British audience, Streit said.

"I believe there was some talk at that point of there being an English edition of 'The Great Gatsby' . . . (so the notes are) probably a commentary on Eliot's view of American English," Streit said. But Streit also said he wasn't sure of the notes' meaning, since they are "a little hard to decipher."

The copy of "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" - British intellectual Frank Ramsey's personal copy - contains notes in English by Wittgenstein himself, Streit said.

While the copy of "The Quadrupeds of North America" does not contain any notes, it is distinctive because it's still in an original paper wrapper. Works like "Quadrupeds" would come in digest format, so most readers would usually remove the wrappers and bind their combined digests, Streit said. The John Hay Library already houses a large Audubon collection, Streit said, so the gift was especially fitting for the library.

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