Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943. First edition, first issue. Warmly inscribed "To Fredrik E. Blickfelt - with sincere appreciation - Ayn Rand" and dated January 6, 1944 by Rand at the bottom of the page. Also inscribed by Rand's husband, "Thanks for a very sane and constructive evening - Frank O'Connor," and by several of their friends. In the publisher's red cloth binding and with the first edition statement on the copyright page, as required. A clean, Near Fine copy with a couple small smudges to boards and some toning to edges. Dust jacket Very Good+ with spine faded and some dampstaining at tail of spine, affecting a lower corner of the back panel.

Rand, her husband, and their friends seemingly inscribed this copy at a party as a gift to their host Fredrik E. Blickfelt, a composer and vocal instructor. The warm inscriptions include those of the author and radio personality Upton Close (born Josef Washington Hall, 1894 - 1960) and his wife Julia Close, the actors Ivan Lebedeff (1894 - 1953) and Wera Engels Lebedeff (1909 - 1988), as well as several other friends.

Along with Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead stands as a towering masterpiece of fictionalized Objectivist philosophy – a zealous laissez-faire capitalism that prizes individual desire above altruism. The novel follows Howard Roark, an architect who uncompromisingly creates modern works in the face of entrenched group-think that prefers form over function. In what was praised by a contemporary New York Times review as an “absorbing story of man’s enduring battle with evil,” Rand’s novel survives as a testament to the power of the individual will. Near Fine in Very Good + dust jacket. (Item #7308)