So, it’s F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s birthday today.

The internet usually celebrates this day with The Great Gatsby quotes in typewriter-y fonts and cats dressed as Jay (The Great Catsby ha. ha.). But we won’t torture you with that here. Instead, here are some photos of F. Scott Fitzgerald as a brooding young man. You know, before he became rich and famous at 24.

All these photos prefigure the book that would make Fitzgerald a literary star, This Side of Paradise, which follows a brooding Amory Blaine as he goes from angsty adolescent to Princeton dropout, much like the writer himself. If only tiny F. Scott knew what literary stardom awaited him (before the alcoholism, early death etc.)! Maybe he would have smiled.

Happy 118th, old sport.

All images © Princeton University Library