AYN RAND - DOCUMENT SIGNED 06/12/1976 CO-SIGNED BY: ROBERT HESSEN, BEATRICE HESSEN - HFSID 272394

AS HER WRITING CAREER WINDS DOWN, THE FAMED AUTHOR SELLS THE INVENTORY OF SEVERAL OF HER PUBLISHED WORKS - BUT RETAINS CONTROL OVER HER LITERARY LEGACY
 
AYN RAND, ROBERT HESSEN and BEATRICE HESSEN.Scarce Typed DS: "Ayn Rand" on page 3, 3p, 8½x11, separate sheets. New York City, 1976 June 12 (dated by Rand).Letter of Agreement to Rand from Palo Alto Book Service.Begins: "Dear Ayn". In full: "This will serve as our Agreement for the Palo Alto Book Service for the purpose of promoting and selling the remaining inventory of The Ayn Rand Letter, The Objectivist, the bound copies of The Objectivist Newsletter, and the pamphlets published by The Objectivist Newsletter and The Objectivist.We will receive the physical inventory of the above as well as any remaining stock of your novels and non-fiction works, including Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, all of which are held by The Objectivist Book Service, Inc. The inventory will be shipped to us, insured, via book rate, or by truck, if that method should prove less expensive. We will share the cost of shipment with the Objectivist Book Service, Inc. The physical inventory shall, at all times, remain your property. We agree to insure the inventory for its replacement value, and shall share equally with you the cost of insurance. We shall be charged with the responsibility of maintaining the inventory in sound condition. We shall receive as a commission 50% of the list price of all books and material sold by us. We will remit all revenue amounting to 50% of list price from books or materials sold by us on a quarterly basis, accompanied by a statement of sales. In no event will any books or materials be sold at a price other than its current retail price without your written authorization, in each instance. In the event that we decide to discontinue the business for any reason, we agree to share the cost with you of returning the material to New York or to any other place you specify. However, if we should relocate to another city or area, we will pay the full cost of transporting the consigned material to our new location. It is understood tht we do not intend to form, nor shall this Agreement be construed to constitute, a partnership or joint venture between us. Additionally, we will not represent ourselves to be your spokesmen. Therefore, we will recommend and sell other new and worthwhile older titles without first clearing them with you. We will indicate in any recommendations directed to an Objectivist audience that we are solely responsible for these other selections and that such other selections do not carry your approval or endorsement. However, while you shall have no prior approval of our listings, we do agree to adjust the listings to conform with any objections you may raise. It is also understood that while we will select titles we think of value, we will not offer for sale any books by authors who have attacked you or the philosophy of Objectivism. This promise binds us, not only for books sold to an Objectivist audience, but to the general public as well. We also agree that we will not sell any of the consigned material for resale to political or sectarian bookstores or organizations, and while we may operate as a general book service, we shall not operate as a specialized political or sectarian book service. We agree that we will advertise the back copies of The Objectivist and The Ayn Rand Letter at least once a year in an interstate mailing. Additionally, we recognize the proprietorship in the marks 'The Objectivist', and 'The Ayn Rand Letter', in connection with which you have unqualified control over the manner and style of the uses of such names. Any use of such marks by us is directly for your benefit and is being promoted by us solely for purposes of the promotion and sale of the inventories mentioned above and belonging to you. The use of your name and the titles of the books and materials will only be made in connection with the issuance of regular price listings and catalogs issued by us and only as part of an overall listing contained there-in. Any other use shall require your prior written consent, in each instance. All of your books and pamphlets will be listed separate from any other listed publications. We recognize your unconditional right as the owner of the consigned material to recall it from us at any time. If any of the back issues or pamphlets (but not any of the novels or works of non-fiction, including Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology) goes out of print, and the demand for it seems to warrant a reprinting, then we will request your written authorization to reprint it. If such authorization is received, the Palo Alto Book Service will be the publisher; it will bear the whole expense of the reprint and you, as author, will receive a royalty of fifteen percent (15%) of the selling price, with other provisions to be agreed upon, including the term or terms of such license to publish, and the size of each printing. This letter of Agreement will serve in lieu of a formal contract. We are enclosing two signed copies, one for you to keep and the other for you to sign and return to us." Also signed: "Robert Hessen" and "Beatrice Hessen" for Palo Alto Book Service."June 8" handwritten, likely by one of the Hessen's, at top of each page; Rand has signed four days later.In the year she signed this agreement, Rand published her last article in "The Ayn Rand Letter" (January-February) and attended a White House dinner honoring Malcolm Fraser (July 27). Russian-born author AYN RAND (1905-1982), who is best known for her literary masterpieces The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), published the first issue of "The Objectivist Newsletter" in January 1962. The first installment of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, also mentioned in this agreement, was published in "The Objectivist" in July 1966 (it would be published in book form in April 1979). After the publication of Atlas Shrugged, Rand wrote and lectured on her philosophy, Objectivism, which she defined as "a philosophy for living on earth." She espoused her philosophy in her own periodicals from 1962-1976, and her essays provided much of the material for her six books on Objectivism and its application to culture. Every book published by Rand in her lifetime is still in print and hundreds of thousands of copies are sold each year, for a total of more than 20 million copies. ROBERT HESSEN, a historian specializing in American economic and business history, has contributed a number of articles, commentaries and reviews to both scholarly and popular publications, and he is the author of three books and the editor of two others. A Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, he was associated with Rand for some time and contributed articles to some of her publications. BEATRICE MINKUS HESSEN, Robert's wife and an Objectivist, was best known as the editor of her father's publication, "The Minkus Stamp Journal". She also wrote freelance articles about education and became a personal injury lawyer (1985) in addition to running the family book distribution service before her death at age 52. Lightly creased. Staple holes at upper left blank corners. Fine condition.