"WHO IS JOHN GALT?": FIRST EDITION OF ATLAS SHRUGGED, 1957

RAND, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. Thick octavo, modern full green morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers. $1800.

First edition of one of the most popular and influential novels of the last 50 years, handsomely bound in full morocco.

"From 1943 until its publication in 1957, [Rand] worked on the book that many say is her masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. This novel describes how a genius named John Galt grows weary of supporting a society of ungrateful parasites and one day simply shrugs and walks away. He becomes an inspiration to like-minded men and women, all of whom eventually follow his example, until society, in its agony, calls them back to responsibility and respect. Again [as with Rand's novel The Fountainhead in 1943] reviews were unsympathetic, and again people bought the book" (ANB). By 1984 more than five million copies of Atlas Shrugged had been sold, and in a 1991 Library of Congress survey Americans named it second only to the Bible as the book that had most influenced their lives. "First printing" stated on copyright page. Perinn A4a.

A fine, handsome copy.