Certain novels go down in literary history and, at the same time, come to symbolise an entire epoch. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ is one such gem of modern American literature. Published in 1925, the novel paints a fascinating picture of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties – a time of unprecedented affluence and self-indulgence. Pulsating New York City, the opulent mansions of Long Island and the dazzling high society parties are the backdrop to the story of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire, who will stop at nothing to regain the affections of the lost love of his youth, Daisy Buchanan.

The dazzling New York of the Gatsby era, where the sparkling Art Deco skyscrapers in the blue evening skies inspired the design of the Great Characters Homage to The Great Gatsby Special Edition. Created as a nod to an early Montblanc writing instrument of the Art Deco era, the surface of the barrel, fashioned using a special technique, seems to reflect the booming city’s brightly lit high-rise facades at night. No fictional device, but actually shining like the green light on the dock at Daisy’s house in ‘The Great Gatsby’, the fluorescent Montblanc emblem in the cap top captures and stores light during the day, so that it glows in the dark. The apparent power of money is symbolised in the edition by the platinum-coated clip, which takes the form of a money clip. Its rounded opening is resplendent with the initials of Jay Gatsby as a rhomboidal gold-coated Art Deco monogram. The myth of the American dream and the design of the often stylish hip flasks of the Art Deco period are referenced by the cone, which imitates the engraved screw cap of a flask and the fine rings in the colours of the American flag encircling it. The essence of the American dream fulfilled is disclosed when removing the cap of the edition and glimpsing the handcrafted solid Au 585 gold, rhodium-coated nib. This is decorated with an image of Jay Gatsby’s sumptuous car, enthusiastically described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as being of ‘a rich cream colour, bright with nickel... and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns.’