Rare edition of the Fountainhead

Say what you will about Ms. Rand. I feel peoples revulsion to her philosophy of Objectivism is at times unwarranted; primarily because people are attributing a level of menace to it which simply does not exist... dumbing it down to an overly simplified argument of good versus evil, with good being the Altruist, and bad being the... I'm not exactly sure... the Capitalist? The responsibility of this misconception could potentially lie with ol' Aynie herself who is over inflating a pretty basic argument for Humanism. And then there's the whole political nonsense people get all up in arms over which is ridiculous because Rand potentially wouldn't even recognize the small-government proponents of today.

Whateves.

So, my library was donated this very cool looking paperback edition of The Fountainhead. The cover photography is by H. Landshoff and I think it's glorious. I believe it is a long exposure image of a city scape or skyscrapers, and potentially is an homage to Howard Roark's temple to the human spirit, which I respect quite a bit because it encourages the reader to still create their own mental image of the space. My ex was obsessed with this book and so I can confidently say I have seen many editions of this book and yet I have never seen this one, and actually, I can only find 8 libraries that own this particular edition. My boss was going to put this in the discard pile before I lovingly encouraged her to keep it. Unfortunately, I am too old and need health insurance too much to risk stealing it.

I have added some more images below which close in and show more detail of the cover. The images are unfortunately blurry because all I have on me at work is my super-expensive-smart-phone-which-is-basically-a-small-computer-yet-for-some-reason-takes-shit-pictures.

The Fountainhead. Charter books, Bobbs-Merrill. 1962. Second paperback edition. 754pp. Front cover price $2.95. 50,000 copies issued.

My Deal With It Gifs

A poem by my mother from 1979

Have you ever been to sunny Arizona?
When the air smells April
And the wind so ever warm?
Through the days of March
Wind swirls about in circles
Thus, the danger ends..
An April day is born.

The wrathful winds of March
They make the lazy valley sway
They make the children cry
With devils dancing to the sky...
chortling their short life away

the devils dance is over
spring smells so clean and neat
for a time; a glimpse of eden
til the summer's stand still heat

In mid-July comes the monsoon
with lightning so fierce it can strike you down
the dust devils fly again like a witch on a broom
Things seem safe if they stay on the ground

A town becomes the devil's target
As power lines ignite
And roofs soar off their buildings
Like saucers lost in flight.

Have you ever been in sunny Arizona
When the time is Autumn
And the breeze has kissed your face
Flowers, cacti, mountains
All wear their cloaks of beauty
And the trees of the valley rustle
With a gentle, loving grace.

(I wrote this poem after we had this big storm in March and the Beefeaters Restaurant on Camelback, which was a big restaurant at the time-the roof actually blew off and went soaring down the street bumping into cars and it was a mess...)