"A DOCUMENT THAT COULD LITERALLY SAVE THE WORLD" (AYN RAND): FIRST EDITION OF ISABEL PATERSON'S CLASSIC LIBERTARIAN WORK, THE GOD OF THE MACHINE, 1943, IN ORIGINAL DUST JACKET

PATERSON, Isabel. The God of the Machine. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, (1943). Octavo, original russet cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of the work that placed Paterson "beside Madison and Hayek and Friedman and Rand," early praised by Ayn Rand as "the first complete statement of the philosophy of individualism as a political and economic system… a basic document of capitalism," a handsome copy.

"Paterson was an early and consistent exponent of the ideas that now define radical libertarianism" (Encyclopedia of Libertarianism). "Murray Rothbard, the most influential figure among the radical libertarians of his generation, hailed God of the Machine as 'by far the most profound' product of the writers 'who created the individualist movement during WWII.' The Libertarian Reader… enrolls her beside Madison and Hayek and Friedman and Rand… Paterson's distinctive philosophy of individualism, embodied in God of the Machine… designed the classic pattern of modern political individualism" (Cox, Woman and the Dynamo). "One of the few original theories of history that have been developed in America… today, it appears prophetic" (Cox, Introduction to 1993 edition, ix-x).

Paterson, as well, was a crucial and formative influence on Ayn Rand. "Friends recall the young Rand literally 'sitting at the master's feet' as Paterson discussed American history" (Burns, Goddess of the Market, 76-8). The idea for Atlas Shrugged (1957) "came to Rand after a conversation with Paterson in 1943, and Paterson had encouraged her during the work's early stages" (Cox, Culture & Liberty). Evidence of Paterson's influence is evident "in the inscription that Rand wrote in Paterson's copy of The Fountainhead: 'You have been the one encounter in my life that can never be repeated'" (Cox, Woman and the Dynamo). In early letters, Rand praised God of the Machine as "the first complete statement of the philosophy of individualism as a political and economic system… a document that could literally save the world… a basic document of capitalism, as Das Kapital was of communism, with the difference that God of the Machine is an honest and brilliant book" (Berliner, ed., Letters of Ayn Rand). Above all, "Paterson believed that the purpose of government had been accurately identified in the Declaration of Independence, which stipulates that 'governments are instituted among men' to 'secure' individual rights—just that and nothing more" (Cox, Culture and Liberty). First edition, first issue: with no statement of edition or printings on the copyright page.

Book fine; light edge-wear to colorful price-clipped about-fine dust jacket.