“Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. New York: Random House, 1957.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher and playwright best-known for her novels “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” Rand was a pioneer of Objectivist philosophy—a system of thought which operates on the tenants of rational self-interest and happiness, and the pursuit of individual freedoms as exemplified in laissez-faire capitalism. Rand used fiction to bring this philosophy to a broad audience beginning with “The Fountainhead” in 1943. Since then, she has inspired both the most devout followers and the severest critics, but her passionate fervor for her work has fascinated individuals of all philosophical bents.
Despite the success of “The Fountainhead,” Rand was nervous about attaining a publisher for “Atlas Shrugged.” One passage of the novel featured a 35,000 word speech. Rand did not want any of it edited. Rand visited 15 publishers, including, Bennett Cerf at Random House. Unbeknownst to Cerf, Rand kept a chart of each publisher’s reaction, noting what was said at each meeting. Cerf reflected on their meeting in his memoir “At Random”:
“’I came out very high [on the chart] because I had been absolutely honest with her.’ I had said, ‘I find your political philosophy abhorrent.’ Nobody else had dared tell her this. ‘If we publish you, Miss Rand, nobody is going to try to censor you. You write anything you please, in fiction at least, and we’ll publish it, whether or not we approve.’”
Random House released “Atlas Shrugged” on October 10, 1957 with a limited number of promotional dollar-sign cigarettes. Critics sounded their disapproval of Rand’s philosophy. A small number of her fans, however, had the trade first edition individually rebound in a fine binding, often of full leather. The result is an undetermined number of one-of-a-kind bindings of “Atlas Shrugged.” These personal treasures are still very collectible.
Written by Lisa Newman, A version of this column was published in The Clarion-Ledger’s Sunday Mississippi Books page.
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