1925 · Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York · first edition, first printing
Read The Great Gatsby online free, from the 1925 first edition, with 14 corrections on the record.
Gatsby entered the US public domain on 1 January 2021 and it was the first book we re-set. You can read The Great Gatsby online free here, all nine chapters, in about three hours and eighteen minutes. Teachers and book clubs ask us for printed and large-print packs of it more than any other title; those are quoted on request.
- Words
- about 47,000
- Reading time
- 3 h 18 min
- Chapters
- 9
- Live since
- January 2021
- Group packs
- Quoted on request
Chapter I
Read chapter one online, as Scribner set it in April 1925
Chapter I is about 6,100 words. Twenty-six minutes. Nick arrives in West Egg, dines with Tom and Daisy across the bay, and ends the night watching a man on a neighbouring lawn reach toward a single green light.
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
Source: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925, first printing, p. 1. “Any one” is two words in 1925 and stays that way.
Editor’s note: why we kept the first printing’s text
We proofed this against the 1925 Scribner first edition. The first printing carries a handful of known errors, and later printings fixed some of them. We had a choice: reproduce the first printing exactly, or adopt the fixes. We took the first printing as the base and corrected only where Fitzgerald’s own letters or the second printing show the first was a compositor’s slip. Each of those is in the ledger with its reason.
We did not use any later scholarly edition’s emendations. Those editions are still in copyright and, more to the point, they make editorial calls we’d rather show you than hide.
The most common fault in free Gatsby files is chapter III’s party. Somewhere in a scan, overlapping bits of dialogue between guests lost their paragraph breaks, and half the internet copies that version. Two speakers run together as one. We fixed those first.
We proofed this against the 1925 Scribner first edition. Two commas changed on launch day. Both are in the ledger, and twelve more entries have followed.
The editor, on the first title we publishedCorrection ledger · 14 entries
The longest correction ledger in the catalogue
Every change since the book went live, dated. Reader reports are checked within 7 days under the text accuracy guarantee, and the ones that turn out right land here.
- 2021-01-01Launch. Comma restored after “Consequently” to match p. 1. Chapter I, paragraph 3
- 2021-01-01Launch. Stray comma removed that our transcription had added before a closing quotation. Chapter I, Daisy at dinner
- 2021-01-19Paragraph break restored between two guests at the party; they had merged into one speaker. Chapter III
- 2021-01-19Second merged-speaker break restored in the same scene. Chapter III, the library
- 2021-02-08
criticisingcriticizing. Our typesetter’s keyboard, not Fitzgerald. Chapter I, paragraph 2 - 2021-03-22Section-break space restored; the 1925 page shows a line gap. Chapter II
- 2021-05-30Italics restored on a song title set roman in our first pass. Chapter V
- 2021-07-04Em dash restored where our file had a hyphen, which had made a broken-off line read as a compound word. Chapter VII, the Plaza
- 2021-11-12The guest list: one surname’s spelling restored to the 1925 form after a reader compared page images. Chapter IV, opening list
- 2022-02-14Full second proofing pass under our current two-reader method. Three findings, logged below. Whole text
- 2022-02-14Apostrophe direction fixed on a dropped-letter word (’ not ‘). Chapter VI
- 2022-02-14Missing closing quotation mark added; present in 1925. Chapter VIII, Wilson and Michaelis
- 2022-02-14Paragraph wrongly indented as a new speaker joined back to the previous one. Chapter IX
- 2024-05-06Reader report checked: a word flagged as a typo is as printed in 1925. No change made. Logged so the next reader can see we looked. Chapter VII
Content notes
A fatal car accident in chapter VII, a shooting in chapter VIII, domestic violence (Tom breaks Myrtle’s nose in chapter II), heavy drinking throughout, and racist remarks from Tom that the book presents as his character. Nothing is cut.
A three-meeting plan clubs use
Meeting 1
Chapters I–III
Meeting 2
Chapters IV–VI
Meeting 3
Chapters VII–IX
Chapter VII is the longest in the book and the hottest day in it. Give it its own evening if your group reads slowly.
From inquiry to pack, step by step
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The pack uses this exact text and carries its ledger date, so every copy matches what readers see online.
Common questions about this Gatsby
Is The Great Gatsby free to read online?
Yes. The 1925 text entered the US public domain in January 2021 and every chapter is free to read here. Group packs are quoted by email on request.
Why does this book have the longest correction ledger?
It was our first title and it has been read here longest, so readers have reported the most. We also re-proofed it in full in 2022 when our method tightened.
Can a class of 30 use it?
Yes. At about 47,000 words it fits a three-week unit. Teachers ask for printed packs with page numbers matching the online text; those are quoted on request.
Who should look elsewhere?
Anyone after a study guide with chapter summaries. We publish the text and short notes, and we won’t write the essay for your students.
Group packs · quoted on request
Ask for a group-pack quote for The Great Gatsby
Reading-group packs are quoted by email. Tell us how many readers and when you meet.