The son of the man who was allegedly the inspiration for Tom Buchanan has filed a lawsuit against a book dealer who is attempting to sell his father's stolen, signed copy of The Great Gatsby. William Hitchcock, whom the NY Post describes as a Texas oil honcho, says his late Long Island-bred father Tommy was the model for the character, and F. Scott Fitzgerald gifted him with an inscribed copy of the novel. The note reads: "To Tommy Hitchcock for keeps, from his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald. Los Angeles, 1927."
The prized possession was allegedly stolen in 2006 and the lawsuit claims it was sold on the black market. “Someone grabbed it—we don’t know who. It’s still a mystery,” Hitchcock told the paper. Rare book dealer James Robert Cahill purchased it for $61,000 at a Bonham's auction in 2010, and was attempting to sell the novel for $750,000 last April, when it was spotted by a friend of Hitchcock's. Though Hitchcock say, "I just want my dad's book back," he is now suing him for the $750,000. But where is the book really? This Great Gatsby caper gets pretty cutthroat! According to the court documents:
"During his telephone conversation with [attorney Terry] Higham, James Robert Cahill claimed that he had already transferred the book to a resident of the United Kingdom who intended to deface the book by cutting out the pages containing Fitzgerald's signature and inscription. Upon Higham's objection to the defacing of the book, Mr. Cahill indicated that he could prevent such defacement of the book, if he chose to do so."
Hitchcock's lawsuit comes after he tried to deal directly with Cahill, and after a 10-month FBI investigation was launched, where the feds "concluded the case must be handled in civil court."
