The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand (ISBN 0452283760). The book was Rand's first major success and its royalties and movie rights made Rand famous and financially secure. The book was rejected by 12 publishers before a young editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house wired to the head office, "If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you". The Fountainhead was made into a Hollywood film in 1949, with screenplay by Rand herself.

Library of Congress dispute

As Ayn Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff inherited many of Rand's manuscripts. During her lifetime, Rand had apparently made a comment at one point saying that she would donate her manuscripts to the Library of Congress upon her death, a bequeathal she later had reservations about.

Related Topics:
Leonard Peikoff - Manuscript - Library of Congress

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The Library of Congress had no reservations, though. They continued to pester Peikoff about the manuscripts, and even resorted to demanding that he present them to the library. He considered his options, but after a heart attack in July 1991, he decided to turn over the manuscripts as Rand's initial, though reserved, wish had been. He had his assistant box all of the manuscript pages except for two--the first and last pages of The Fountainhead--which he had framed. In their stead, he had the pages photocopied so that the manuscripts would be "complete." An appraiser went through the manuscripts and notified the Library of Congress about the replacement pages, but the Library of Congress replied that it was of no consequence.

Related Topics:
July - 1991

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Some years later, Peikoff held an interview in his home with a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, and when asked about the pages (which had been framed and hung on the wall of his office), Peikoff joked about having "stolen" them from the Library of Congress. This apparently went into the article, and not long after that the Library of Congress contacted Peikoff and demanded that he return U. S. Government property.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles Times - U. S. Government

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After consulting with his lawyer, Peikoff determined that there was not much he could do about his situation. While perhaps he had a right to keep the papers and even though they were legally his (his argument is that he had never donated them to the library, so they had never been property of the U. S. Government), and even though he might win a lawsuit against the government, the process would be long and expensive. So he signed a capitulation agreement, but supplied the condition that the Library of Congress must come and retrieve the pages themselves. This retrieval was videotaped by a friend.

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Peikoff's personal narrative of the story and video of the manuscript pages' retrieval can be found on his website, Peikoff.com.

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