B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 4 17 "WHO IS JOHN GALT?" 17. RAND, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York, 1957. Thick octavo, original green cloth, dust jacket. $4800 First edition of one of the most popular and influential novels of the last 50 years, in original dust jacket. “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, in first-issue dust jacket. Perinn A4a. Book nearly fine; bright unrestored dust jacket with a bit of wear to extremities, including one rub along front flap fold and one small closed tear along rear flap fold. An attractive copy.
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