F. Scott Fitzgerald's Ledger, 1919–1938
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F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 1 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ledger, 1919–1938 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ledger is one of the richest primary source documents in existence for any literary author. Fitzgerald began recording information in this business ledger sometime in 1919 or 1920 after leaving the Army and moving to New York to begin his professional life as a writer. Fitzgerald divided the Ledger into five sections: “Record of Published Fiction,” “Money Earned by Writing since Leaving Army,” “Published Miscelani (including movies) for which I was Paid,” “Zelda’s Earnings,” and “Outline Chart of my Life”. The “Record of Published Fiction” and “Published Miscelani” are spreadsheets listing everything he wrote and its publication history up to the time of its final disposition. He meticulously tracked his earnings from 1919 through 1937 in the section titled “Money Earned by Writing since Leaving Army.” In addition, he recorded Zelda’s earnings from her writing. In the autobiographical section, “Outline Chart of my Life,” he provided background about his early years but later included monthly entries for each year. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ledger is part of the Matthew J. and Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald held by the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, located in the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. The digital version of the Ledger, which includes access to the full text and is keyword-searchable, was produced by the staff of the Digital Collections Department of the University of South Carolina. The scanning was done by Kelly Riddle (MLIS 2012) and Matthew W. Shepherd (MLIS 2012), and the transcription was prepared and formatted by Matthew W. Shepherd. The transcription was edited by Judith Baughman. —Elizabeth Sudduth, Director of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 2 Transcriber’s Notes Each page of the MS is transcribed as a single unbroken page. Pages that do not bear Fitzgerald’s handwriting are omitted. Page numbers from the MS are included in the transcription. The transcription’s running page numbers are indicated by the text TRANSCRIPTION PAGE in the header to distinguish the two paginations. Page sizes vary by section: . Published Fiction: Tabloid (11″ × 17″); . Earnings: Letter (8.5″ × 11″), except page 74, which is legal size (8.5″ × 14″); . Published Miscellany: Legal (8.5″ × 14″); . Autobiographical Chart: Legal (8.5″ × 14″); . All other pages are letter size (8.5″ × 11″). Page margins at top and bottom are 1″; page margins at left and right are 0.5″. Blank ruled lines in the MS are transcribed one-to-one as blank typed lines. Type is in Times New Roman, except for special Unicode characters for which a different font is used (e.g. , ★). △ Type is at 12 points, except: . Published Fiction (10 points, due to page size limitations); . Published Miscellany (11 points, due to page size limitations); . Very small handwriting, including that which occupies half the ruled line height in the MS (typically 8 points); . Very large handwriting, such as the red notes at the bottoms of pages 162 and 164 (size varies); . Superscript and subscript. The text in this transcription is kerned, but no ligatures are used. In some cases, the space between characters in the transcription has been condensed to fit the available space and preserve unbroken lines, often in places where Fitzgerald himself similarly condensed his script. Black ink is used throughout for glyphs and shapes, except: . Gray type to indicate partially erased text; . Dull translucent orange lines to approximate those on pages 74 and 75; . Red underlines and notes on pages 162–165. The relative horizontal spacing of text is approximated in this transcription, except for header material, which is arranged as follows: Page numbers are always flush left or right, followed by one blank line, followed by the heading and upper marginalia. Headings written on the uppermost ruled line are transcribed with no intervening blank line (e.g. page 52); headings written above this line are transcribed with one or more intervening blank lines, depending on the upper marginalia (e.g. page 165). F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 3 Bold square brackets indicate illegible text: black if struck out, and gray if partially erased. Double underlines indicate text that has two or more underlines in the MS. Similarly, double strikethroughs indicate text that has two or more strikethroughs in the MS. Horizontal square brackets under text indicate that the text occupies the same horizontal space in the MS. Superscript text within such a bracket in the transcription appears above the normally positioned text in the MS. A bracket enclosing only normally positioned text indicates text that is overlaid directly on other text. Vertical square brackets to the left of lines of type indicate that the transcribed lines occupy the same ruled line in the MS. Fitzgerald’s symbol for and resembles a plus sign (+). However, since it is semantically an ampersand (&), the latter symbol is used in this transcription. Since Fitzgerald’s dashes vary in width and spacing, this transcription attempts to approximate each en and em dash in context, though they are generally ambiguous. In many cases, capitalization in the MS is ambiguous, such as for the letters m/M in mother. I have attempted to choose whichever case seems probable in context, but the matter is open to interpretation. The Published Fiction and Published Miscellany sections are rendered as tables, with lines separating rows to aid the reader. The Name column on even-numbered pages of the Published Fiction section has been reproduced on odd- numbered pages for ease of reference. I extend my sincere gratitude and admiration to Judith Baughman for her careful proofreading of the transcription. With her extensive background in Fitzgerald’s life and works, she deciphered and corrected many of the enigmatic names throughout the text. Any remaining discrepancies, however, are mine. —Matthew W. Shepherd, Digital Assistant, Digital Collections, University of South Carolina F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 4 Property of. F. Scott Fitzgerald F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 5 1 Contents Record of Published Fiction; Novels, Plays, Stories Page 2 (Not including unpaid-for juvenilia) Record of Other Published Work, Paid for. 101 Earnings by years 51 Geneological Table Zelda 150 143 Autobiographical Chart 151 F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 6 2 Record of Published Fiction—Novels, Plays, Stories Name Date Written Magazine Date English Magazine Date Book Published by Date English Publisher Date The Debutante APRIL 1919 Smart Set Nov 1919 Scribner Mar. 26th ’20 Collins May ’21 Play in One Act (Should be second) Babes in the Woods Jan. 1917 Smart Set Sept 1919 Scribner Mar 26 ’20 Collins May ’21 Short Story (First Thing Published) Porcelain and Pink Oct 1919 Smart Set Jan 1920 Scribner Oct 1922 Collins [ ] Play in One Act Mar 23 Dalyrimple Goes Sept 1919 Smart Set Feb 1920 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins March 22 Wrong Short Story Benediction Oct 1919 Smart Set Feb 1920 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins March 22 Short Story Head and Shoulders Nov 1919 Sat. Eve. Post Feb ’21, 1920 Yellow Mag. March 1922 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story “Topsy Turvy” Mr. Icky Nov. 1919 Smart Set Mar. 1920 Scribner Oct 1922 Collins Mar 23 One Act Play Myra Meets his Family Dec 1919 Sat. Eve. Post Mar 14, ’20 The Soverign? July 1921 Short Story (or Strand?) This Side of Paradise Nov ’17 – Mar ’18 Scribner Mar 26, ’20 Collins May ’21 Novel July ’17 – Sept ’19 2 episodes in S. S. Hodder & Staughton Syndicated Austrailia Capp, Clark & Co. Canada The Camel’s Back Jan 1920 Sat. Eve. Post April 24, ’20 Pearsons July 1921 Scribner Oct 1922 Short Story O. Henry Memorial Collection Dec 1920 Collins Mar ’23 The Cut Glass Bowl Oct 1919 Scribners May 1920 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story Bernice Bobs her Hair Jan. 1920 Sat Eve Post May 3, 1920 Pan(?) Aug 1921 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story or 20 story(?) The Ice Palace Dec. 1919 Sat Eve. Post May 20, 1920 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story The Off-Shore Pirate Feb 1920 Sat Eve Post May 27, 1920 The Soveriegn Feb 1922 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story The Four Fists May 1919 Scribners June 1920 Scribner Aug 1920 Collins Mar ’22 Short Story The Smilers Sept 1919 Smart Set June 1920 Short Story May Day March 1920 Smart Set July 1920 Scribner Oct 1922 Collins Mar ’23 Short Story [Very Long] F. SCOTT FITZGERALD’S LEDGER TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 7 3 Name Produced by Date Movie Made by Scources Remarks Disposition The Debutante Dramatic Club See T. S. of P. Play in Nassau Litt. Mag Included in This Side of Paradise Play in One Act Univ. Ala. January 1917 (Should be second) Feb 1921 Babes in the Woods See T. S. of P. Published in Nassau Litt. Included in This Side of Paradise Short Story (First Thing Published) Porcelain and Pink Players League 2nd Serial In Tales of the Jazz Age Play in One Act April 16th, 1923 “College Stories” March, 1924 Dalyrimple Goes In Flappers and Philosophers △ Wrong Short Story Benediction Story in Nassau Litt Mag. In Flappers and Philosophers Short Story June 1915 Head and Shoulders Bayard Vieller Metro (Dana) In Flappers and Philosophers Short Story offer turned down “The Chorus Girl’s Romance” Mr. Icky The Usual Thing In Tales of the Jazz Age One Act Play Nassau Litt.