"THE SACRED WORD: EGO": FIRST EDITION OF AYN RAND'S ANTHEM, IN RARE ORIGINAL DUST JACKET

RAND, Ayn. Anthem. London, Toronto, Melbourne, and Sydney: Cassell, (1938). Octavo, original mottled red cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $14,000.

First edition of Ayn Rand's powerful anti-Collectivist novella, preceding the first American edition by eight years, in rare original dust jacket.

"The most lyrical of any of her work, the most abstract and stylized in its literary method. It has the beauty and cadence of a prose poem" (Branden, 14). Highly controversial from its inception, Anthem was published in England in 1938 after it was refused publication in the United States. It would not be published in America until Pamphleteers, Inc. brought it to press in 1946 in pamphlet form. However, even with only the British edition available, readers worldwide came to embrace Rand's anti-Collectivist themes and her elevation of the word "Ego" above all others. Through Anthem and her first book, We the Living, Rand started a movement that she would continue to build through The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and which would shape the lives of many of her readers. "It is virtually impossible to be objective about objectivism. Thus Rand is destined to be one of the most controversial writers—and thinkers—of her time" (ANB). Dust jacket is second state, with "Colonial Edition" on flap. Perinn A2a. Owner signature. Small numerical notation to preliminary blank. Bookseller ticket.

Book fine; lightest edge-wear with tiny chip to upper front panel of about-fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy in the exceedingly rare dust jacket.