Holiday 2020 Catalogue

25 H o l i d a y 2 0 2 0 An Exceptional Association: Very Scarce First Edition Of Rand’s First Novel, Inscribed To Architect Ely Jacques Kahn, Her Advisor For The Fountainhead 22. RAND, Ayn. We the Living. New York, 1936. Octavo, original cloth, custom slipcase and chemise. $42,000. Scarce first edition of Rand’s first novel, one of only 3000 copies printed, a wonderful presentation association copy, inscribed by the author to architect Ely Jacques Kahn, for whom Rand worked as an unpaid assistant in 1937, while researching the profession for the book that was to become The Fountainhead: “To Ely Jacques Kahn—gratefully—Ayn Rand.” According to Barbara Branden in her biography The Passion of Ayn Rand (143-44), in 1937 “Ayn decided to spend a few months working in an architect’s office, without pay, in order to become familiar with the day-to-day activities of the profession. Through a friend she met the famous New York architect Ely Jacques Kahn and he agreed to her plan… Ayn spent six months working in Kahn’s office as a filing clerk, typist, and general assistant. He was the only one in the office who knew that her real purpose was research for a novel, and he seemed charmed by the adventure of having her there… It was while working for Kahn that Ayn solved the problem of devising a climax for her novel.” Without scarce dust jacket. Spine sunned, rear cover soiled. A very good copy of this scarce book, most desirable with this significant association. “It’s a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own.”