Atlas Shrugged (Presentation copy) by Rand, Ayn - 1957

New York: Random House, 1957. First edition. About Fine/Near Fine. Presentation copy, inscribed: "To William W. Brainard, Jr. / With the compliments of our mutual friend John C. Gall / Cordially / Ayn Rand / 9/17/57." A wonderful copy of the author's masterpiece. Brainard was a "gentleman farmer" from New Jersey ("a livestock farmer in a dinner jacket, per TIME Magazine), and distinguished himself on the popular level by being a judge at the Westminster Dog Show in 1958, 1972, and 1976, and as director of the American Whippet Club. The "mutual friend" John Gall mentioned by Rand, was her lawyer and close friend, and is thought to have been one of the inspirations for a major character in the book, John Galt. Book just about Fine with the spine very slightly toned, in a Near Fine dust jacket. Jacket with uniformly deep colors and only a touch of rubbing at the crown and three short, closed tears at the edges of the panels. A superior example with a lovely early inscription. Rand's magnum opus, where she develops her objectivist theory and explores the question, "what if society's genius goes on strike?" Rand considered the book "not about the murder of man's body, but about the murder and rebirth of man's spirit." "Atlas Shrugged" has remained one of the most popular and influential books written in the twentieth century; one survey in 1991 finding it second only to the Bible in having the greatest impact upon its readers. The book would also place first on Modern Library Reader's Poll of the Top 100 novels of the 20th century. "...the reader will stay with this strange world, borne along by its story and eloquent flow of ideas." (Contemporary Newsweek Review). About Fine in Near Fine dust jacket.