ARCHIVE OF NATHANIEL BRANDEN'S RETAINED CORRESPONDENCE TO NOVELIST AYN RAND. [RAND, AYN], and NA...

ARCHIVE OF NATHANIEL BRANDEN'S RETAINED CORRESPONDENCE TO NOVELIST AYN RAND. [RAND, AYN], and NATHANIEL BRANDEN. 1930-2014. 22 Typed Carbons (3 signed 'Nathan'), Branden's retained correspondence to Ayn Rand and Frank O'Connor, 32 pp, 4to, Toronto, July 5 to October 9, 1951, minor toning and thumbing. THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP. In 1950, Canadian student Nathan Blumenthal and his girlfriend Barbara Weidman corresponded with and met Ayn Rand, the author of The Fountainhead' who was then at work on her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. Despite the age difference, the two couples became very close, and the Brandens (so named after Nathan changed his name and the younger couple married) were key figures in Rand's inner circle of acolytes. Branden would go on to found the Nathaniel Branden Institute and partner with Rand in The Objectivist and her other non-fiction endeavors until their falling out in 1968 after Rand discovered Branden having an affair with another woman. In these letters, Branden tells of introducing his college-age friends to Rand's work, which they devour with enthusiasm. He reports that he is working on a novel of his own, and that he has sent her a gift from himself and Barbara (which he describes in manuscript: 'A cigarette holder engraved with her initials surrounded by Galt, Rearden, d'Anconia,' the male leads of Atlas Shrugged). On one letter he adds a note to Barbara (with whom he must have shared his retained copies): 'Barbara, I'm angry at you for only writing Ayn once in 6 weeks. She commented on it on the telephone. She did not say it at all as a reproach—but i know her voice well enough to know she was disappointed.' A fascinating glimpse into an important literary friendship. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing