F. Scott Fitzgerald, first edition, Tender Is The Night, dust jacket signed Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald. Always buying fine first editions of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"... My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence: An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward ...." from The Author's Apology, THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, 1st edition, 3rd printing, 1920.

Please note: all our F. Scott Fitzgerald signatures and/or inscriptions have verifiable provenance. We invite you to inquire about any of the signed or inscribed Fitzgerald books that are of interest to you.

SIGNING FOR TENDER IS THE NIGHT, AT HOCHSCHILD KOHN & COMPANY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 1934

I recently acquired my second first edition, first printing of TENDER IS THE NIGHT, signed by F. Scott Fitzgerald and with the Hochschild Kohn & Company bookseller's stamp on the back paste-down. Just what are the chances of that? Quite slim, I'd imagine, especially for a book that had only 7,600 copies in its first printing. Just what are the odds?

You have to understand, I am a F. Scott Fitzgerald fan. Have been since reading GATSBY in high school. I love his prose, his themes and symbolism; the mystery and romanticism of his relationship with Zelda; his reaching out to other writers of his time, his innate sense of talent, art and beauty; the 1920s and 1930s, art deco, the anomaly and hypocrisy of Prohibition. Looking back, it's easy to see why people cherish the Jazz Age and the "Golden Age of Hollywood."

So, naturally, I wanted to know more about Fitzgerald's time in the Baltimore area.

Surprisingly, I learned he was there over four years. That was more than the Fitzgeralds had remained in any one place since their marriage in 1920. The Fitzgeralds traveled a lot, especially in the 1920s, back and forth between America and Europe. So four years in Baltimore was something.

Of course, there were reasons. Zelda's illness and Scott's desire to be near her while she was being treated at Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, John Hopkins Hospital. Also to finally provide Scottie with a somewhat stable home environment. And "La Paix," a fifteen-room Victorian mansion seemed just the place; located with the help of a former Princeton classmate named, Edgar Allen Poe, Jr. Is that not bizarre?

Phipps Psychiatric Clinic

La Paix

In the spring of 1932, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald ensconced themselves in La Paix, near Baltimore, Maryland. Scott was determined to finish the novel he had been working on since the publication of THE GREAT GATSBY. Zelda ardently practiced her ballet, painted and worked on her writing. Scott wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, that he was $6000 ahead and would be able devote 5 solid months to his novel. That was due to the Saturday Evening Post's acceptance of three short stories: "Family in the Wind," "The Rubber Check," and "What a Handsome Pair!"

One would think all would be right in the Fitzgerald realm. But it wasn't. Zelda's insistence on competing with Scott incited discord. Scott did his best; however, Zelda's mental turbulence, his financial concerns and the stress of finishing his novel only increased his dependency on alcohol. There were times when the Fitzgeralds appeared in public a normal family: at dinners, movies, and social occasions. But life at La Paix grew more and more difficult.

The main hindrance to tranquility was the Fitzgeralds' endless arguing over who had the right to use their histories. Scott believed it was his material; however, Zelda insisted on using it for her novel, Save Me the Waltz. Dr. Adolph Meyer, of the Phipps Clinic, encouraged Zelda to write about her past, which only made Scott angry with Meyer. Scribners published Zelda's novel in 1932. Scott believed they'd hit "rock bottom." Zelda's novel didn't sell well; but Instead of retreating from her position, she wrote a play, Scandalabra, produced for the Junior Vagabonds of Baltimore.

In August 1933, Zelda accidently started a fire in an unused fireplace, which damaged a portion of the mansion, and they were given notice of the termination of their lease.

September, 1933. Scott's good friend, Ring Lardner, died. The Fitzgeralds moved and were now lodged in a townhouse at 1307 Park Avenue, Bolton Hill, in Baltimore proper. Despite all the disruptions, Tender Is the Night was nearing completion. Zelda was registered as a patient at Craig House.

1307 Park Avenue

Not long after moving to the Bolton Hill area, Scott found a cherished enclave in the Owl Bar of the Hotel Belvedere. There, he drank with other writers, artists, and journalists; discussed books, paintings, and events in Europe.

Hotel Belvedere, Baltimore

the owl bar in 1910

Owl Bar, Hotel Belvedere

Edgar Allen Poe

Louis Azrael

One night, Scott was on a binge similar to one Edgar Allen Poe occasionally experienced; and, if it hadn't been for Louis Azrael, a noted Baltimore newspaperman, he might've ended up the just same -- dead in a gutter. Not long after, Fitzgerald put Azrael's name down in his personal ledger, referring to him as one Baltimore's outstanding young men. A note to Azrael from Fitzgerald read, "It's just possible you saved my life. I don't know what would've happened to me wandering about the streets in that condition."

Azrael, himself, was a recovering alcoholic, and could relate to Fitzgerald's turmoil. He could see Fitzgerald was bordering on alcohol poisoning. After Fitzgerald's recuperation at John Hopkins, the two men met again and found they had a good expanse of common ground.

Louis Azrael was a respected journalists, so when he spoke at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings it was an event. Was it possible that Azrael arranged a book-signing for Scott Fitzgerald at Hochschild Kohn & Company's downtown department store after TENDER IS THE NIGHT was published in April 1934?

Howard and Lexington Streets, downtown Baltimore, Maryland

Could it be as a favor, and admiring of Fitzgerald's writing, that Louis Azrael used his influence to arrange a special event at Hochschild Kohn's? Or, did Azrael act as a liaison between the famous department store and Fitzgerald to have a number of first edition, first printings of TENDER IS THE NIGHT signed and sold at the Howard and Lexington location?

Two original first edition, first printings of TENDER IS THE NIGHT, acquired from two widely different sources at two different, both with Hochschild Kohn bookseller stamps and both with a signature of F. Scott Fitzgerald on the front flyleaf could be a coincidence -- however, it could also be a hint of a literary event covered over by the turbulence of time.

Please email me if you have any information on this event, or the friendship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Louis Azrael, or the relationship Louis Azrael might've had with Hoschschild Kohn & Company, or if there actually was a Fitzgerald book signing event at this famous Baltimore department store. Or, am I just hoping to see an event that may've never occurred? Any and all intelligent comments or observations concerning this possible book signing could be illuminating.

Stephen Vincent Benet wrote of F. Scott Fitzgerald after he died, "You can take off your hats now, gentleman, and I think perhaps you had better. This is not a legend, this is a reputation - and seen in perspective it may well be the most secure reputation of our time."

On April 12, 1934 Scribners published 7,600 copies of the first edition, first printing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's TENDER IS THE NIGHT.

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"... But never again as during that all too short period when he and I were one person, when the fulfilled future and the wistful past were mingled in a single gorgeous moment -- when life was literally a dream...." F. Scott Fitzgerald, from 'Early Success,' The Crack Up, October 1937

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