Details
FITZGERALD, F. SCOTT. Autograph letter signed ("F. Scott Fitzgerald") to his illustrator Arthur William Brown, n.p., n.d. [Fall 1922]. 3 pages, 4to, on two sheets, WITH A SKETCH BY FITZGERALD OF A GOLF SCENE in the text, marginal chipping and a few closed tears; half morocco slipcase.
ILLUSTRATING "WINTER DREAMS"
Brown was the illustrator of one of Fitzgerald's finest stories, "Winter Dreams," for its appearance in Metropolitan (December 1922); he had illustrated many of Fitzgerald's stories for different magazines during the previous two years. Fitzgerald writes: "The story concerns a poor boy, his rise and his attempt to win a rich girl. He first sees her when he is a caddy about 14 years old and she is a little "belle laide" of 11. She comes on the golf course with her nurse carrying her clubs and tries to get a caddy. The sight of her stirs the poor boy to give up his job of caddying -- He is too proud to caddy for a little girl as young as that -- He rises in the world. At 25 he is a guest at the golf club where he has been a caddy. He swims out to a raft one moonlit night. She comes by in a motor boat...My other scenes do not offer much pictorial possibility. I have just destroyed the second part of the story & am doing it over again..."
Fitzgerald then suggests five scenes out of which he hopes Brown can get two illustrations. "If you want a 3d picture there is a scene where the heroine -- same age as in the surf-board scene -- drives a mashie-shot into the belly of a member of a foursome playing ahead of her. The foursome is composed of hero (25 yrs. old), one man of thirty -- silly ass -- and two old men -- one of whom got hit in belly..." To illustrate what he means Fitzgerald here (at bottom of third page) does a sketch of the golf scene with several labels and captions, adding playfully: "Don't be jealous because I draw so well. F.S.F."
"Winter Dreams," the only story Fitzgerald wrote in 1922 after the publication of his novel The Beautiful and Damned in March, was first collected in All the Sad Young Men (1926). As Matthew J. Bruccoli notes in Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, pp. 201-202: "'Winter Dreams' is virtually a preview of The Great Gatsby...[It] clearly anticipates the major ideas and emotions in...Gatsby: the ambitious boy whose dreams of success become blended with the image of a rich girl; her inconstancy; his faithfulness; and the inevitable sense of change and loss. Although Dexter Green does not match Jay Gatsby's romantic commitment, he is a preliminary sketch for Gatsby..." Published (with the sketch reproduced) in Letters, ed. M.J. Bruccoli and M.M. Duggan, pp. 114-115.
Provenance: Unidentified owner (sale, Charles Hamilton Galleries, 23 March 1978, lot 110).
ILLUSTRATING "WINTER DREAMS"
Brown was the illustrator of one of Fitzgerald's finest stories, "Winter Dreams," for its appearance in Metropolitan (December 1922); he had illustrated many of Fitzgerald's stories for different magazines during the previous two years. Fitzgerald writes: "The story concerns a poor boy, his rise and his attempt to win a rich girl. He first sees her when he is a caddy about 14 years old and she is a little "belle laide" of 11. She comes on the golf course with her nurse carrying her clubs and tries to get a caddy. The sight of her stirs the poor boy to give up his job of caddying -- He is too proud to caddy for a little girl as young as that -- He rises in the world. At 25 he is a guest at the golf club where he has been a caddy. He swims out to a raft one moonlit night. She comes by in a motor boat...My other scenes do not offer much pictorial possibility. I have just destroyed the second part of the story & am doing it over again..."
Fitzgerald then suggests five scenes out of which he hopes Brown can get two illustrations. "If you want a 3d picture there is a scene where the heroine -- same age as in the surf-board scene -- drives a mashie-shot into the belly of a member of a foursome playing ahead of her. The foursome is composed of hero (25 yrs. old), one man of thirty -- silly ass -- and two old men -- one of whom got hit in belly..." To illustrate what he means Fitzgerald here (at bottom of third page) does a sketch of the golf scene with several labels and captions, adding playfully: "Don't be jealous because I draw so well. F.S.F."
"Winter Dreams," the only story Fitzgerald wrote in 1922 after the publication of his novel The Beautiful and Damned in March, was first collected in All the Sad Young Men (1926). As Matthew J. Bruccoli notes in Some Sort of Epic Grandeur, pp. 201-202: "'Winter Dreams' is virtually a preview of The Great Gatsby...[It] clearly anticipates the major ideas and emotions in...Gatsby: the ambitious boy whose dreams of success become blended with the image of a rich girl; her inconstancy; his faithfulness; and the inevitable sense of change and loss. Although Dexter Green does not match Jay Gatsby's romantic commitment, he is a preliminary sketch for Gatsby..." Published (with the sketch reproduced) in Letters, ed. M.J. Bruccoli and M.M. Duggan, pp. 114-115.
Provenance: Unidentified owner (sale, Charles Hamilton Galleries, 23 March 1978, lot 110).