

Comparatively speaking, “The Beautiful and the Damned” and “This Side of Paradise” sold more than double that amount. When the book was first published on April 10, 1925, the book had a modest run of 20,000 copies sold, according to The New York Times. On Monday, the book celebrated its 97th anniversary. Later, famed literary critic Harold Bloom would argue that “The Great Gatsby” was one of the most quintessential American novels of all time, but during its day, the novel did not have the cultural cachet it does today. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” a commercial failure, but it fell into near obscurity a few years after its initial publication. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Oct.
