RAND, Ayn. We The Living. (EIGHTH EDITION PRESENTATION COPY - 1947)

AUTHOR: RAND, Ayn

TITLE: We The Living.

PUBLISHER: London: Cassell & Co., Ltd., 1947.

DESCRIPTION: EIGHTH EDITION PRESENTATION COPY. 1 vol., inscribed and dated on the front blank endleaf by Rand "To Eugene D. Williams - - with sincere admiration - Ayn Rand July 21, 1951". Bound in the publisher's original blue/gray cloth.

CONDITION: head and foot of spine ever so slightly rubbed, inner and outer hinges fine, some light offsetting to front blank otherwise VERY GOOD.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: "We the Living" is Ayn Rand’s first novel. Published in 1936, the story is set in Soviet Russia, from which Rand had fled to America ten years earlier.
The immigrant Rand was startled by the failure of American intellectuals and politicians to uphold the American ideals of individualism and freedom, and she was horrified by the widespread acceptance, even sympathy, that greeted the spread of communism, socialism and fascism in Europe. Rand resolved to expose the “noble ideal” of collectivism, through the story of three young people whose lives are sacrificed by an all-powerful state.
Originally titled “Airtight,” this unvarnished account details the methods by which the spirits of its best citizens are suffocated by the collectivist state. The initial American publication of "We the Living" was not a commercial success. Macmillan did not expect the novel to sell and did little marketing. Initial sales were slow and although they picked up later, Macmillan destroyed the plates before the first printing of 3000 copies sold out. Eighteen months after its release, the novel was out of print. Rand's royalties from the first American edition amounted to $100. An edition revised by Rand was published in 1959, following the success of Atlas Shrugged (1957).