RAND, Ayn (1905?1982). Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957. 8vo. Original green cloth gilt; original dust jacket (chipping along extremities, closed tears, losses, price sticker stain, scribbling at lower margin along railroad track). FIRST EDITION WITH 10/57 DATE ON FRONT FLAP. Ayn Rand began the first draft of Atlas Shrugged in 1946 and spent the next decade working on it off and on. Though her publisher initially balked at the novel?s length, Rand eventually forced him to print it as was, reportedly saying that to edit it would be akin to editing the Bible. It was the author?s last work of full-length fiction, with Rand devoting the rest of her life to promoting her Objectivist philosophy. In Rand?s later years her failing health would force her to enroll in Social Security and Medicare, and soon afterwards she ceased all writing activities.