# Is "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis / New York, 1943) is identified by: "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page — this, together with the Bobbs-Merrill imprint on the title page, is the operative test. The census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page — this, together with the Bobbs-Merrill imprint on the title page, is the operative test
- Bound in publisher's original first-state red cloth, titles stamped in gilt on the upper board and spine, with a red top-stain
- 754 pages
- The back panel of the first-issue dust jacket carries a two-column listing of other books published by Bobbs-Merrill
- Priced jacket / price present at the flap
- Critical caution on the famous typographic states — page 9 with the folio printed so the "9" reads like an "o"; p
- Publisher imprint reads The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis / New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ayn Rand |
| Publisher | The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis / New York |
| Year | 1943 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | "First Edition" is stated on the copyright page — this, together with the Bobbs-Merrill imprint on the title page, is the operative test |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
"First Edition" is stated on the copyright page — this, together with the Bobbs-Merrill imprint on the title page, is the operative test. Bound in publisher's original first-state red cloth, titles stamped in gilt on the upper board and spine, with a red top-stain; 754 pages. The back panel of the first-issue dust jacket carries a two-column listing of other books published by Bobbs-Merrill. Priced jacket / price present at the flap. Critical caution on the famous typographic states — page 9 with the folio printed so the "9" reads like an "o"; p. 321 line 5 "refrred" for "referred"; p. 381 line 4 with a slightly smaller "G" in "G. W."; p. 480 line 2 "Domininque" for "Dominique"; and p. 651 paragraph 2 "weight" for "weigh": these are widely circulated as first-edition points but they are NOT diagnostic on their own, because they persist into the wartime Blakiston printings struck from the same plates. A copy exhibiting all the errors but lacking the copyright-page statement is not a first edition. Copies lacking the "First Edition" statement are later printings.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed. Bobbs-Merrill, 1943, is the sole true first; Rand wrote in English, so no original-language edition exists. The first British edition is Cassell & Co., London, 1947 — black cloth, gilt lettering and a gilt laurel-wreath device on the spine, 643 pages — collected separately as the UK first and holding no precedence over the American. Bobbs-Merrill issued a series of small early printings through the war years because of paper rationing, so early Bobbs-Merrill printings are numerous and are frequently mistaken for the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The defining trap for this title is not a book club but The Blakiston Company (Philadelphia) 1943 issue: a wartime sub-license printed from the Bobbs-Merrill plates because Blakiston held paper allocation Bobbs-Merrill lacked. It reproduces the original setting, carries the same text errors, and shows copyright to The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1943 on the copyright page — but the Blakiston imprint appears on the title page. Found in burgundy cloth and also in green cloth. It is a reprint, not a first edition, and it is regularly offered as one. Standard book-club tells otherwise apply to later club issues: a blind stamp (small circle, square, dot or triangle) impressed into the rear board near the spine, no price printed at the jacket flap, thinner boards and jacket paper.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Fountainhead* by Ayn Rand a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-fountainhead
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.