Fitzgerald's financial ledger put online ahead Gatsby movie premiere... including handwritten entries detailing his 2,000 dollar paycheck in 1925 when he sold the book By Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press An intriguing peek into the daily scribbles and life of author F. Scott Fitzgerald is now available online, just weeks before the opening of the movie 'The Great Gatsby.' Researchers from the University of South Carolina's Thomas Cooper Library put a digital version of the famed author's handwritten financial ledger on their website last week, making it available for the first time for all readers, students and scholars. The ledger shows Fitzgerald's tally of earnings from his works, the most famous of which is the novel 'The Great Gatsby.' Great work: The financial ledger that F. Scott Fitzgerald used to record his earnings from all of his works, including his famed The Great Gatsby, is now available for study online In 1925, the ledger shows Fitzgerald earned less than $2,000 for the 'Gatsby' book - the same amount he received for a single short story published in The Saturday Evening Post. With the May 10 release of a new 'Gatsby' movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ms Sudduth says library officials expect an upswing in interest in its Fitzgerald collection. In later years, Fitzgerald added more earnings from 'The Great Gatsby.' He sold the foreign motion picture rights for $16,666, as noted in the ledger. In another section, he lists about $5,000 in earnings from 'Gatsby' when it ran as a play in New York, Chicago and elsewhere. For the record: Fitzgerald's financial ledger was digitized by the University of South Carolina archive The ledger will be on display at the library for about a month starting May 6, Sudduth said. The library's Fitzgerald collection is considered the world's most comprehensive, with more than 3,000 publications, manuscripts, letters, book editions, screenplays and memorabilia. It also includes Fitzgerald's walking stick, briefcase and an engraved silver flask his wife gave him in 1918. In the ledger, Fitzgerald lists in carefully laid out columns his various pieces of writing, the location they were printed, and the income they produced. Fitzgerald's comments are sprinkled throughout. One describes the year 1919 - when his first novel was accepted for publication and Zelda Sayre agreed to marry him, as - 'The most important year of life. Every emotion and my life work decided. Miserable and ecstatic but a great success. Reading between the lines: In a summary of what he gained in 1919, Fitzgerald made a note that he had the most important of years because that is when he met his wife Zelda (left) By the time Fitzgerald started the ledger, Elizabeth Sudduth, director of the Ernest F. Hollings Library and Rare Books Collection, said, 'he probably knew what he was doing. He left a space for his remarks, and then the final disposition. With a laugh, she noted: 'We know he didn't spell very well. And his arithmetic wasn't much better,' But the overall document, she said, 'shows that he was far more on top of his affairs than people thought,' given a reputation in later life as a heavy drinker. For the past 30 years, researchers have had to rely on a limited print facsimile of the ledger, which didn't catch the varied inks and scripts in Fitzgerald's hand. Park Bucker, a USC associate English professor, said he's excited to discuss the new ledger with his students. 'Students always remark how much they love his handwriting,' he said. Leading up to the launch: The ledger was put online in preparation for the May 10 release of the upcoming film 'They think his handwriting is just beautiful, and handwriting isn't valued today.' Mr Bucker pointed out that the ledger shows Fitzgerald made most of his income from short stories and that he was able to earn a living from his literary work. 'It was the rarest of things, an author who made a living,' Mr Bucker said. USC Professor Matthew Bruccoli began to acquire items for the Fitzgerald collection in the 1950s. He received some, including the ledger, from the author's only child, daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald, also known as Scottie. Mr Bruccoli wanted the collection to be used as a teaching and research tool, and he gave it to the university in 1994. Mr Bruccoli has since died, but the collection has continued to grow. It is now is valued at more than $4million, Sudduth said.