"ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL WRITERS—AND THINKERS—OF HER TIME"

RAND, Ayn. Anthem. Los Angeles, California: Pamphleteers, (1947). Octavo, original printed gray paper wrappers. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $4200.

First American edition, second printing, of Ayn Rand's powerful anti-Collectivist novella, in fragile original wrappers, inscribed on the title page, "To Herbert & Mildred Butterfield—Cordially—Ayn Rand. Oct. 5, 1950."

"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 It would not be published in America until Pamphleteers, Inc. brought it to press in 1946 in pamphlet form.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). The first edition was published in Great Britain in 1938; the American edition contains revisions and a forward by Rand not included in the English edition. Second printing, from seven months after the first printing. Perrin A2b. Owner signature on rear wrapper.

Mild staining and embrowning. Desirable inscribed by Rand.