“TO SHOW YOU A MORE ROMANTIC VIEW OF BUSINESS… TO THE GREATNESS OF AMERICA—AND TO HELL WITH EUROPE!”:EXTRAORDINARY PRE-PUBLICATION PRESENTATION ATLAS SHRUGGED, BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY RAND
RAND, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, (1957). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase and chemise. $42,000.
First edition, an exceptional presentation copy, inscribed two months before publication by Rand to Hans Hirschfeld: “To Hans—to show you a more romantic view of business and businessmen—as my form of the following toast: ‘To the greatness of America—and to hell with Europe!’ Affectionately, Ayn. August 20, 1957.”
"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 edition, first printing (inscribed prior to publication date), in first-issue dust jacket. Perinn A4a.
Businessman Hans Hirschfeld was the husband of Florence Blumenthal, oldest sister of Nathaniel Branden. Rand considered Branden to be her "intellectual heir" and she dedicated Atlas Shrugged to him and to her husband, Frank O'Connor. Rand's intense philosophical and personal relationship with the young Branden became a sexual relationship as well in 1954 with the knowledge and reluctant permission of Rand's husband and Branden's wife. It was Florence Blumenthal who first introduced Branden to Rand's work, when he saw his sister reading The Fountainhead. Together, Branden and Rand converted the Hirschfelds to the objectivist philosophy, with their final conversion being due in large part to Atlas Shrugged. The couple joined Rand's inner circle, and greatly encouraged the dissemination of objectivism. The Branden-Rand relationship ended abruptly in 1968 after Rand discovered Branden's secret affair with the woman who became his second wife. Rand irrevocably and publicly "excommunicated" Branden from Objectivism (without revealing the real reason for the break) and removed his name from the dedication page of subsequent printings of Atlas Shrugged. Florence Blumenthal was the only one of Branden's sisters to subsequently take his side against Rand at the time of the break.
Minor restoration to rear inner paper hinge; text and cloth nearly fine. Minor restoration to bright, beautiful dust jacket. A remarkable pre-publication presentation copy.