The Fountainhead

Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. Very Good+ in Very Good+ dj. (c.1943). Early printing. Hardcover. (maroon cloth with gilt stamping on spine and front cover) [modest wear to book at extremities, spine very slightly turned, minor soiling to bottom of text block, large surface-scar at top of front pastedown (inside front cover), apparently from the removal of a label or bookplate; the front hinge feels a little loosey-goosey but is not split or cracked; the jacket is lightly edgeworn, with a few tiny nicks and some minimal paper loss at the top of the spine, and a couple of other tiny closed edge-tears]. The third of the author's four novels to be published during her lifetime, and the one that really put her on the map. (After all, you can't spell "Rand McNally" without "Ayn Rand," right? Sorry.) Like it or don't, it was one of the most influential and widely-read novels of the 20th century; its story of an uncompromising architect laid the groundwork for what evolved (or devolved) into the Objectivist philosophy (Rand's own hobby-horse) and, more broadly, the Libertarian movement. It was also the basis for the very heavy-breathing movie adaptation of 1949, directed by King Vidor and starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal. This is the unstated second printing (maroon binding, stamped in gilt on spine and front cover), with all the first edition issue points (uncorrected errors in the text), encased in a second-state dust jacket, on which the author photograph and the laudatory review quotes have replaced the list of current Bobbs-Merrill titles that had adorned the first-issue jacket. (The publisher didn't begin stating specific printings until the third printing, which came out in August 1943.) . (Inventory #: 28523)