"To Victor Weybright": The Publisher Who Helped Bring Ayn Rand's Vision to the World.

First printing paperback edition of The Fountainhead. Inscribed by Ayn Rand to her Signet publisher: "To Victor Weybright -/- with my sincere/appreciation of your interest -- Cordially - Ayn Rand 5/6/1952." An historic inscription by Rand within a month of publication recording the exact date that Rand inscribed another First Printing copy to Weybright's partner, Kurt Enoch (Also available). Book Very Good with a 1" tear along bottom front panel, several closed tears and fold creases, light toning on margins of last fifth of book, wear along the spine. Spine holding firm. Book seems largely unread save for ending. Perinn A.3e.

No other writings or markings of any kind save for Rand's inscription.

"I know the nature of this novel. I do not care to become famous for any other" (Ayn Rand, speaking of The Fountainhead shortly after publication with New York Herald Tribune columnist Isabel Paterson, 1943). The Fountainhead, her third novel, became Rand's breakthrough novel and first bestseller, the novel that would indeed make her famous. The Fountainhead chronicles the life of an independent architect of genius, struggling to make a career against a society committed to tradition, conformity and mediocrity. It celebrates the glory of personal integrity and defines a new morality of individualism. What she became famous for was Ayn Rand - the Individualist -- Ayn Rand - Liberator of the inviolate, creative, reasoning mind -- Ayn Rand - Champion of stainless personal integrity -- Ayn Rand - Creator of the first unbowed man of unborrowed vision.

Originally published in 1943 by Bobbs Merrill, The Fountainhead first became a bestseller in 1945, and it reappeared as a bestseller in 1949, when Warner Bros. released its motion picture, The Fountainhead. By 1952, when this Signet Triple Volume paperback edition appeared, The Fountainhead had sold more than half a million copies. (Branden, 1962). While Signet's Triple Volume format would typically include three works by a single author or three related themes, The Fountainhead was, as Rand's Enoch inscription makes clear, the first Signet Triple Volume book published and the first paperback edition of Rand's first bestseller.

"Paperback Pioneer," Kurt Enoch, (1896-1982), partnered with Victor Weybright to launch New American Library of World Literature in 1947, publishing a wide range of contemporary and classic titles under its NAL, Signet, and Mentor imprints. In effect Enoch and Weybright created the mass market paperback, offering works of many great authors to a younger generation. The Fountainhead now became available in supermarkets, drug stores and thrift shops, formerly an underrepresented demographic.

As the first book offered to the public under Weybright and Enoch's seminal imprint, this first edition paperback copy of The Fountainhead, inscribed to its publisher, underscores The Fountainhead's unique, groundbreaking position in literary history. Book #v1324. $5200. We specialize in rare Ayn Rand, and other legends and landmarks.