Over at the NEW YORK TIMES Style Section they recently posted an extremely interesting “interactive” article showcasing some of the various book covers created over the years for THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of course the main one is the rare First Edition, in blue, with the stylistic set of eyes & mouth floating over the Boardwalk. This book jacket was originally designed by Francis Coradal-Cugat and it’s not only beautiful, but it’s also a complete icon of book design.

Well, the fun part of their article is that they report about a book collector, and F. Scott Fitzgerald biographer, named Matthew J. Bruccoli who recently donated his HUGE collection of GREAT GATSBY books. What’s great is that it showcases nearly 83 years of book design. Sadly, he died in 2008. But his collection, which is considered to be one of the most complete in the world, lives on at the University of South Carolina.

When asked why he didn’t sell his collection (it’s worth millions) and why donate it, Bruccoli replied, “You don’t buy books as an investment, you buy them because it gives you pleasure to read them, to touch them . . . to see them on shelves.”

As an example of some of the book covers/jackets featured at their site we have posted a few pics down below, but if you CLICK HERE you can enjoy even more eye candy!

OK, this post is more for fun than anything but I guess it also holds some Historical value too so this could be fun. Here are some random vintage photos we have come across lately showing some Famous Authors… when they were teenagers!

The first Victim, I mean Author, is a picture of Neil Gaiman when he was very young. That’s the photo up above, but you should get that because, really, he still looks the same!

Now I bet that if I didn’t tell you who this next photo is you might have a hard time guessing, give it a try. OK, that’s long enough. This is Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain. He’s shown here at the tender age of 15! Yes, he does sort of look like Huckleberry Finn, ha!

Next up is a favorite of many Classic Book Readers, this is an old yearbook photo of our favorite “Catcher in The Rye” Writer, J. D. Salinger. He’s only 17 years old in this picture but, to me anyways, looks a lot older.

The next photo here is another 17 year old. Later in life in wrote such books as “The Old Man and the Sea” and “The Sun Also Rises”. Of course, we’re talking about the great American Novelist, Ernest Hemingway.

Now Last, but not least, is another photo you might have a hard time guessing who this is. But shown here, as Robin (The Boy Wonder!) is Chip Kidd himself! This extremely serious Batman Fan grew-up to write two novels, “The Cheese Monkeys” and “The Learners”. OK, he seems a lot younger here “than a Teenager”, but I just wanted to share this fun photo, ha!

This is just a quick post to share the amazing news that, for a limited time, the Official Website of Book Author Jane Austen is offering her classic story, “Pride & Prejudice”, as an online book you can read for free. Yes, FREE!! Woo Hoo! It’s important to note that 2013 is the 200th anniversary of this book. So, if you’re tired of being embarrassed at fancy dinner parties where people have snubbed you because you have not read this important piece of literature yet then here’s your chance to do so, just CLICK HERE!

Posted here, for your learning enjoyment, is a new video in which John Green kicks off the CRASH COURSE Literature mini-series with a reasonable set of questions. Why do we read? What’s the point of reading critically? John will argue that reading is about effectively communicating with other people. Unlike a direct communication though, the writer has to communicate with a stranger, through time and space, with only “words on a page.”