The God of the Machine

Signed and inscribed by Isabel Paterson, "at the request of Ayn Rand." First Edition of Isabel Paterson's The God of the Machine (New York, Putnam, 1943). A very good Association Copy in original unclipped jacket, likely inscribed pre-publication. 1943--The world is at war, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan occupy much of Europe and Asia, and the tentacles of Roosevelt's New Deal hasten and intensify the trend toward an ever-expanding, powerful centralized government. As Roosevelt had declared, the function of individuals is "to serve that Government, and that fundamentally a great and strong group of central institutions, guided by a small group of able and public spirited citizens, could best direct all Government" (Campaign Address on Progressive Government at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California). Yet in that same year, the appearance of three books by three women, "Freedom's Furies," dared to defy the authoritarian tide and forever changed the course of American political thought. Only one was a novel, "a hymn to individualism" and became a blockbuster: Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. The other two eventually went out of print but were reissued by different publishers decades later: Rose Wilder Lane's The Discovery of Freedom and Isabel Paterson's The God of the Machine. "The God of the Machine is the greatest book written in the last three hundred years. It is the first complete statement of the philosophy of individualism as a political and economic system. It is the basic document of capitalism" (Ayn Rand, letter to Paterson's publisher, 1943). Before Paterson authored her magnum opus, she had been the literary critic for the New York Herald Tribune, (her satire so biting, she struck fear in many authors, including John O'Hara), secretary to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, a pioneer aviator, and a novelist. (After she retired, doggedly independent Paterson notoriously did not claim any social security and, purportedly, kept her social security card in its original, unopened envelope, marked "Social Security Swindle." Love to get my hands on that!) But it was in The God of the Machine, "an invaluable arsenal of intellectual ammunition for any advocate of capitalism" (Rand, Introduction to The God of the Machine, 1983), that Paterson concludes with these highly celebrated words, never forgotten: "Whoever is fortunate enough to be an American citizen came into the greatest inheritance man has ever enjoyed. He has had the benefit of every heroic and intellectual effort men have made for many thousands of years, realized at last." A monumental copy, linking two of the leading thinkers of the Twentieth Century, and a practical exponent of both of them. First edition, review copy, inscribed by the author on front flyleaf: "To DeWitt M. Emery at the request of Ayn Rand with pleasure Isabel Paterson." The recipient, DeWitt Emery, was founder of the National Small Business Men's Association, and a friend/correspondent of both Rand and Paterson. Ex-libris of DeWitt M. Emery to front pastedown. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered on a pale blue ground. With original, unclipped dust jacket. Printed Review copy slip loosely inserted. Spine ends and corners lightly rubbed. Dust jacket chipped along folds, with some tape repairs to verso, ring mark from a glass or bottle to front panel, short tear to front panel with tape repair to verso; a very good copy. Accompanying the book is the 1983 reissue of The God of the Machine, with Ayn Rand's 1964 review as the Introduction. Book #Bv2403. $7500. First edition copies of all three 1943 books by "Freedom's Furies" available.