Pola Negri.

Ayn Rand's first published work. scarce first edition of Pola Negri, Ayn Rand's first published work.

Having graduated from the Petrograd State University in 1924, Ayn Rand (born Alisa Rosenbaum) studied at the State Technicum for Screen Arts for a year before emigrating to America. It was here that she wrote this monograph on the Polish actress Pola Negri, one of the most famous silent film stars at the time. Although it was published anonymously, the Ayn Rand Archives identifies it as her work from a letter in which she discusses its publication. Published when Rand was only 20 she went on to write the best-selling novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957).

First edition, one of 4000 copies; 12mo (14.7 x 11 cm); 16pp.; photo illustrated, small creases to corners; original pink pictorial wrappers, cover a little faded, spine partially split at the bottom but holding fine, a very good copy.