"THE VICTOR BELONGS TO THE SPOILS": THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED, SIGNED BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD AND DONATED TO A NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY BY HIM
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Beautiful and Damned. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922. Octavo, original green cloth. Housed in a custom clamshell box.
First edition, third issue (published just one month after the first), of Fitzgerald's scarce second novel, signed by him. Donated to North Carolina's Lanier Library by the author and bearing a library bookplate noting the gift.
"The Beautiful and Damned brought Fitzgerald accolades from those whose opinions he valued. Mencken congratulated him for staking out new ground… Fitzgerald was aiming high; he only wanted to be the best novelist of his generation" (Turnbull, 130-31). Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda in 1930, "I wish The Beautiful and Damned had been a maturely written book because it was all true. We ruined ourselves… I have never honestly thought that we ruined each other" (Bruccoli, 180). Third issue, with "Reprinted March, April, 1922" on copyright page. Without dust jacket. Bruccoli A8.1.c. This signed copy was donated to Lanier Library in Tryon, North Carolina by F. Scott Fitzgerald. His donation is recorded on a typed emendation to the library's bookplate ("Gift of the Author"). Named after musician and poet Sidney Lanier who died in rural North Carolina, Lanier Library was also the local library for Fitzgerald, who lived in western North Carolina sporadically during the 1930s. In June of 1935, Fitzgerald traveled to North Carolina to visit the home of Norma and Lefty Flynn and leave his daughter with them (Zelda was institutionalized). The Flynns, though acquaintances, were an odd choice. They were frequent tabloid fodder due to their tumultuous romantic lives that included a combined seven marriages. While Fitzgerald was just one of many celebrities hosted by the Flynns, he probably resented them more than most of their other guests. Fitzgerald, debt-ridden and miserable, was disgusted with what he viewed as their easy, unearned, nouveau riche wealth. In fact, the couple was living far beyond their means, overspending Norma Flynn's allowance from her parents and then relying on those same parents to pay off substantial debt. Fitzgerald—not intending to be a house-guest—promptly checked himself into a local hotel, where he spent two months. When Fitzgerald return to his Baltimore home, he began to experience a periodic flare of his tuberculosis symptoms and, thus, returned to North Carolina. Deeply ill and unable to sell any of his work, Fitzgerald ensconced himself at another hotel near Tryon, where he smoked, cavorted with a married woman, and sometimes drank more than 30 bottles of beer a day. When his affair began to overwhelm the rest of his life, Fitzgerald began moving around town, staying at different area hotels under an assumed name. By the end of summer, Fitzgerald had landed himself in rehab. Fitzgerald once again boomeranged, traveling to Baltimore only to return to North Carolina when life with his damaged family proved overly taxing. That particular trip to North Carolina occurred under great financial pressure: Fitzgerald owed tens of thousands of dollars and began to subsist on canned goods and oranges. While Fitzgerald sold an essay during that period, he was still widely regarded as a has-been among the literati. Repeatedly, Fitzgerald returned to North Carolina, eventually transferring Zelda to an Ashville hospital. Yet Fitzgerald could not escape his bad press and twice attempted suicide. In January of 1937, Fitzgerald commenced his final stay in the North Carolina mountains. With help, he gave up alcohol; began to spend time with the Flynns; and rediscovered some of his pleasure in things like ice cream. Everything turned around. Months later, Fitzgerald secured a contract with MGM and left North Carolina forever. Ex-libris Lanier Library, with expected affixtures and markings. News clipping tipped onto front flyleaf.
Inner paper hinges repaired, a few spots of soiling and minor marginal tears to interior, light wear to original cloth, mild toning to spine, and spine leaning slightly. An extremely good copy with interesting provenance.