To John L. B. Williams [Letter 320]

This letter was previously published only on the Ayn Rand Institute website.

December 13, 1947

Mr. John L. B. Williams
The Bobbs Merrill Company
468 Fourth Avenue
New York 16, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Williams:

Thank you ever so much for the copy of WE THE LIVING which you obtained for me. I was delighted to get it. I am enclosing my check for it. If you find that you can get any additional copies, I will be happy to have them.[*]

I will not attempt to tell you what a wonderful time I had riding in the engine of the Twentieth Century. It was the greatest experience I ever had.[**] I guess I will save the discription of it for my novel. I am back at work on it, and it is going well.

Thank you for the nice luncheons we had in New York. I am looking forward already to my next trip there.

With best regards,

Sincerely,

Ayn Rand

AR:jk
Enclosure

*After Macmillan sold out the original printing in 1936, it destroyed the plates (in violation of its contract with Rand). The novel remained out of print in the United States for more than twenty years.
**For Rand’s description of this train ride, see her February 7, 1948 letter to Isabel Paterson [Letter 150].