SIGNED and Inscribed by Ayn Rand to international film star Florence Marly. Second printing of the first edition in the original maroon binding. Bright, clipped jacket. Delightfully inscribed "To Florence Marly who is a wonderful reader Cordially Ayn Rand September 14, 1948." Contains an ORIGINAL PHOTO of Rand and Marly reading a copy of The Fountainhead on the Warner Bros. movie set of "The Fountainhead" motion picture, where they originally met.

 What reader isn't mesmerized by the spellbinding intellectual audacity of The Fountainhead's author, her seamless integration of dual literary and philosophic purposes: the projection of her ideal man and a defense of egoism in its rationally justifiable meaning--the novel's plot propelled by indelible, larger-than-life characters: Peter Keating, the promising graduate, the successful, handsome, young architect who ends up "sitting on the floor, reduced to a single sense, the sense of hearing" -- power-lusting Ellsworth Toohey, finally divulging his intrigue to his most docile victim, "The rest of you will smile and obey. Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles?" -- triumphant newspaper mogul and "ruler of men" Gail Wynand, subject of the grammatical and courtroom sentence in the most hauntingly meaningful line of any novel, "At the back of the room, Gail Wynand got up and stood also." -- delicately austere Dominique Francon, raped by "the most revolting person I've ever met," whom she eventually marries (of the "rape," Rand later said, "If that was rape, it was rape by engraved invitation.") -- and Howard Roark. With the novel's opening sentence, "Howard Roark laughed," the ideal man of unborrowed vision and self-sufficient ego was born. 

Highly alluring Czech-born actress Florence Marly, born on June 2, 1919, initially expressed intentions of being an opera singer. At the age of 18, however, she was discovered by the 33-year-old renowned French director Pierre Chenal while a student of art and literature at the Sorbonne. She was best known for her roles in The Damned, Tokyo Joe, and Queen of Blood. However, her life and career were not without challenges and controversies. She faced the horrors of World War II, the blacklist of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the decline of her film opportunities. She remained a lifelong friend of Rand until she died at the age of 59 of a heart attack in Glendale, California. 

Front hinge of book starting but book holds firm. The photo of Rand and Marly, originally mounted to back pastedown has separated, leaving spotting on verso of photo, pastedown, and back flyleaf. Small PO's stamp at bottom of front pastedown. Bright, clipped jacket. Back pastedown contains a ½ inch sticker across bottom edge, with typed words: "Continental star Florence Marly meets Ayn Rand, author of the novel, THE FOUNTAINHEAD, currently being filmed at Warner B." An Association Copy of Hollywood memorabilia at an incomparable value. Book #Bv2431. $6000.