Ayn Rand-inscribed Family Associated Books
GUEST: We have three Ayn Rand books. My great-grandmother Sarah was Ayn Rand's first cousin.
APPRAISER: Wow.
GUEST: And Sarah was Ayn's sponsor to the United States in the 1920s. Ayn was very intelligent,
APPRAISER: Uh-huh.
GUEST: And was able to exit Russia to study film in America.
APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.
GUEST: And Sarah's husband at the time was an owner of movie theaters. So the Russian government allowed her to have a visa to come and study film.
APPRAISER: To Chicago?
GUEST: Correct.
APPRAISER: Right, well, they're terrific examples. We have her first published book in the United States, We the Living, and The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged. And of course, what's wonderful about them is that they're all inscribed. Rand did not like to sign books frequently. And so, it's lovely to have these inscriptions that were not only written to someone in particular, but a family member who was instrumental to bringing her to the United States. It's what we call an association copy. So, in this particular case, she says, "With profound gratitude for saving me from the kind of hell described in this book." We the Living, she had a lot of difficulty finding a publisher. Nobody really wanted to publish the book, being sort of against Soviet communism, and Macmillan agreed to publish it, and at 3,000 copies, it eventually went out of print. The book was released on April 7, 1936. This inscription is dated April 2. So, a full five days before it actually went out to publishers. So it's what you would kind of call a pre-publication association copy. So obviously, she must have kept in touch with the family. This was inscribed November 30, 1943. This is the fifth printing of the book.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: And then, of course, back to the tour de force, Atlas Shrugged, also inscribed, on November 6, 1957, about three weeks after the book was published. There's always a premium to a book with an association to somebody important to the author. The names are different, but you mentioned to me that your great-grandmother remarried, is that right?
GUEST (laughs): Four husbands, yes.
APPRAISER: Four husbands, right. These two are first editions, this is a fifth printing. These two books, with just a general association, might have a auction estimate somewhere in the range of $4,000 to $6,000, $5,000 to $7,000. This one, since it's a later printing, would be more to $2,000 to $3,000. But because there are associations with the family, and they were so important in regard to the events in her life and bringing her out of Russia, I would describe the whole group at auction to have a global estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST (chuckles)
APPRAISER: Thank you so much for bringing it in.
GUEST: Thank you-- thank you.
$15,000 - $20,000 Auction
$20,000 - $30,000 Auction
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