Posts Tagged ‘Ayn Rand’

Two Highlights of the Forthcoming Bonhams Book Auction

Thursday, May 26th, 2016

Bonhams has a book auction coming up on June 8. There are a lot of interesting things outside of fiction (like Mohammed Ali’s passport), but very few items of interest to science fiction collectors.

However, there are two quite notable exceptions:

  • A first edition of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged inscribed to Barbara Branden. For those unfamiliar with Rand, Barbara Branden was one of Rand’s closest friends before the break between Rand and her protege/lover Nathaniel Branden, Barbara’s husband. Rand and Barbara Branden would later reconcile toward the end of Rand’s life, after which Barbara Branden would write The Passion of Ayn Rand, so even though this is quite a worn copy, it’s among the best possible association copies of Rand’s most influential book.
  • An autographed letter from Thomas Pynchon. I don’t need to tell you how rare a Pynchon signature is, do I?
  • Pynchon Simpsons

    Library Addition: First Edition of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

    Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

    I picked this up at Half Price Books on Tuesday using one of their 40% off coupons:

    Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. Random House, 1957. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated), a Fine- copy with just a tiny bit of bend at head and a tiny bit of pulling away of just the center of the top page block, and a tiny dust print at the outer bottom near page block edge, in a Very Good- first printing ($6.95 price and 10/57 code on front flap) dust jacket with shallow chipping at extremities (most notable at head and heel, perhaps 1/8″ at front and rear spine join points) and associated abrading, and blind-side age darkening, but otherwise an intact and fairly attractive example of the dust jacket. With clipping of a letter from Rand from the March 21, 1960 issue of Time magazine laid in. The novelistic summation of Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, Atlas Shrugged is one of the bestselling books (and most important political novels) of the 20th Century, and a central document for the Libertarian political movement. It’s also science fiction, not only featuring political and economic upheaval in a dystopian future, but also a new super-strong metal alloy and a hidden valley protected by a force field. In college, it took me two weeks to read the first 200 pages of Atlas Shrugged, and two days to read the last 800 pages. A personal favorite of both myself and my father. Bought for $270, marked down from $450.

    Atlas Shrugged

    My Locus Piece for April 1 is Up

    Friday, April 1st, 2011

    This time it was Peter Watts and Paolo Bacigalupi’s turn in the barrel. Link Updated

    My many previous April 1 offerings include:

  • Neil Gaiman One Step Closer to Sainthood
  • Doctorow and Stross to write authorized sequel to Atlas Shrugged
  • Greg Egan, Kelly Link Collaborate on Novel
  • 12 Killed in SFWA Flamewar
  • Lucasfilms announces “Adult” Star Wars Novel Line
  • Stross and Doctorow to Write Sequel to Atlas Shrugged

    Thursday, April 1st, 2010

    According to the big news up on Locus.