First edition Great Gatsby to be auctioned from Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’ collection

Holly Patrick
F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, described as “the cornerstone” of Watts’s prized collection, drummed up the highest bid fetching for £226,800 (PA)

A first edition of The Great Gatsby is to be auctioned on 28 September from the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’ private collection of jazz and literature items.

The book, inscribed by author F Scott Fitzgerald to the “original Gatsby” Haro, is expected to fetch between £200,000 to £300,000 at Christie’s auction house in London.

The collection also features signed photographs by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.

“Jazz and modern literature were his two favourite things outside touring,” Benedict Winter, private and iconic collections specialist at Christie’s said.

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