MORE-MAGAZINES

I have finally gotten around to listing one of my extra copies of this magazine -- which I have been collecting for years. THE FOUNTAINHEAD, by AYN RAND, was abridged in this issue -- and many think that Ayn Rand herself did the abridgment. It is also possible that she did the introduction, as it is a good summary of the plot.

Here is the Forward that is in the actual magazine:

SOME MEN raise monuments of stone and steel to the glory of their civilization; some pile brick on brick to glorify clients who pay the bill; but architect Howard Roark reared buildings simply to satisfy himself. The source of his genius as the mainspring of his creative energy was his dynamic self-confidence, which becomes the central theme in THE FOUNTAINHEAD, a long, action-filled novel of our times.

Some people understood  Howard Roark, among them Dominique Francon, whose love for him involves them in a thunderous romance. Others who understood him, like Ellsworth M. Toohey, the columnist, or Gail Wynand, the tycoon publisher, are impelled to betray him.  Some who benefit by his talent, such as his fellow-architect, Peter Keating, seek to destroy him.

Set against a background of the profession of architecture in a city of skyscrapers,  THE  FOUNTAINHEAD portrays the struggle of a creative worker to maintain his artistic integrity in the face of those who fear and hate the genius of the individual.

Abridged from the Book in the Author's Own Words. Published by THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY at $3.00.

I'm listing it on my AMAZON page, instead of eBay, for now (Yes, one day everything will be at a dedicated site of our own!):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PBD74M

Posted by edp at 08:05 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Just saw this photo in the magazine. All four of these men were great in their own ways, all unique individuals. Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Great photos, in the heyday of a great magazine:

 Here's the link for Google's archive. Later this week, I'll have this issue listed in my store on eBay.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4VMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=four+real+ready+spacemen&source=bl&ots=KXsqm8oD7x&sig=1prEsAXB_MJuQZjGFHQqkzkgXcc&hl=en&ei=epmqS--fBaSltgf749G1BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CAwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=four%20real%20ready%20spacemen&f=false

Posted by edp at 07:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I received this email after a purchase last week:

"I work at the American Military Museum in Charleston, SC (http://www.americanmilitarymuseum.org/) and we recently received Gen. Knowlton's complete uniform and several other interesting items.   Along with the uniform was a photocopy of the article contained in this edition of Readers Digest, so I bought the original thing to put with his original uniform."

It is a fascinating War story, "Your Mission Is To Contact The Russians" by Captain William A. Knowlton) later General Willliam Knowlton), and contained in this issue: Reader's Digest August 1945, which was right at the end of the war. I've sold a few of these issues to others who have served with him.

These days, he is more well known for being the Fater-in-Law of General David Petraeus, of U. S. Central Command. Here's a photo of the museum display. The magazine is open to his article, to the left of the uniform.

Posted by edp at 03:55 PM | Permalink

Am Amazing letter to the editor of TIME. The occasion was a report on her speech at Yale that appeared two weeks earlier. The Speech was "FAITH and FORCE, The Destroyers of the Modern World". (Link is to the online recording of it housed at the AYN RAND INSTITUTE).

Here's (The Letters page archive), her letter in full:

Sir:

 In your report of my lecture at Yale University [Feb. 29], you alleged that I oppose the morality of altruism because it "leads to self-immolation, tolerance of the 'incompetent' common man, the welfare state, and ultimately to the slave labor camp." Nowhere in the text of my lecture will you find a phrase such as "tolerance of the "incompetent' common man," or its equivalent, either in the context where you inserted it or in any other context. That phrase is a gross misrepresentation of my position.

 I do not speak or think in such terms as "the common man." I leave such patronizing concepts to the liberals. If, by "common man," you meant the lower-income groups, I do not regard incompetence as the exclusive, collective attribute of any group or class, lower or upper. I am not a modern liberal or a Marxist. I do not pass collective judgments on individuals by any sort of group or class standards. The terms "competence" and "incompetence" denote how well or how badly one does one's job, in any profession, on any level of ability, in any income group.

I would never use so evasive an expression as "tolerance of the "incompetent.' " It has no intelligible meaning. If you compare it to the precision with which I express my ideas, you will easily see that it does not belong to my style of speaking or thinking. If you were hinting that what I oppose is the sacrifice of the competent to the incompetent-you don't have to hints this is what I hereby request that you put me on the record as saying: I oppose the sacrifice of the competent to the incompetent and of any man to any other man.

 As to the rest of your report, the direct quotes were selected perceptively and fairly, but I regret that the editorial slant contradicts their meaning and sets up a straw man by equating me with Herbert Spencer. If you wish to refute me, you will not do so by refuting Spencer (or Nietzsche, or Epicurus or Robert A. Taft). Their philosophies are not mine.

Ayn Rand, New York City

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Here's a new listing of the only pulp magazine appearance of AYN RAND'S work. They published the novelette ANTHEM in the last issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries. Included are also illustrations by the great pulp era illustrators Lawrence, and Virgil Finlay. Here!

Continue reading "Ayn Rand's ANTHEM in Famous Fantastic Mysteries" »

Posted by edp at 08:40 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

CORONET was a nice little magazine published (originally) by the same publishers as Esquire, from 1936 to 1961. I think it is sometimes overlooked as a collectible now because it has been out of business for a while. But in it's day its combination of interesting articles and photo "stories" was popular. Here's a great example: Somehow they managed to get Salvador Dali to do some paintings for them, exclusively. There are photos in the listing, here.

 We have almost ALL the original issues of CORONET available here, and MANY Back issues of ESQUIRE, from the 1930s to the present day!

Posted by edp at 08:48 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by edp at 08:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

An ad for an interesting film, actually written by AYN RAND, well worth seeing. It's in a LIFE magazine:

The magazine is available here.

Posted by edp at 08:56 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

"A magazine must be like a human being. 
If it comes into the home
it must contribute.
It just can't lie around.
A magazine must have...
..blood and brains and pizzazz. "
--- From  Funny Face  (1957), starring Fred Astaire (in a character molded after the great magazine photographer Richard Avedon), and Audrey Hepburn as the girl who gets to wear all those glorious fashions. Directed by Stanley Donen.

Posted by edp at 08:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

NEWSREEL OF A CHANGING WORLD
By OGDEN NASH.

Author of "Hard Lines," "FreeWheeling," and "Happy Days"

I do not care for digests, as a rule.
I loathe the knowledge -- in-a-nutshell school,
Philosophy writ that he who runs may read
And history capsules, culture guaranteed..
The erudition gleaned from tabloid courses
Less valid seems than Mexican divorces,
And minds that feed on literary gossip
Make fiddlers change their flames from George to Ossip.
There's no fool like a semi-literate fool
I do not care for digests, as a rule.
Such being his convictidns, what a wry jest!
This bard is wedded to THE READER'S DIGESTS
No weighty periodical pretentions,
Settling the world with sentiments sententious;
No roll-your-own-degree-young-fellow college,
No Bar-B-Q on the royal road to knowledge;
But faithful before your eyes unfurled,
An accurate newsreel of a changing world;
Encyclopedia rather than résumé,
A current record of our seething day.
For digests as a rule I do not care.
THE READER'S DIGEST commands un autre galère.

From The Reader's Digest, January, 1934 Edition, Back Cover.

Update: The magazine is available here.

Posted by edp at 08:44 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)