This document provides textual notes to the Monadnock Valley Press edition of Anthem by Ayn Rand. This edition is now also available in a paperback version and as a Kindle ebook.
Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem has had a tangled history. It was originally published in England in 1938, then published again in America in 1946 with a great number of edits. As it was continuously re-published by various printing houses (Caxton Printers in 1953, Signet in 1961, et al.), errors crept in. Those mistakes were further compounded upon its publication on the Internet in 1998. In addition, somewhere along the line the U.S. copyright was allowed to lapse, so it is now in the public domain in America even though it is still under copyright in other countries.
The text presented here is the result of extensive research into the publication history of the novel. Specifically, I completed a word-by-word check of all the published versions, using as my frame of reference the expanded 50th anniversary edition published by Dutton in 1995 (ISBN 0525940154). The Dutton volume helps to clarify Rand's intentions, because it contains both the author's revised American edition (1946) and the original British edition (1938) as marked up by the author during the process of revision. However, I also discovered that the American edition contains edits that are not marked in the Dutton volume, which led me to investigate the provenance of the American edition.
In November 2009, I purchased a second printing of the 1946 edition, issued in February 1947 by Pamphleteers, Inc., of Los Angeles, California. That text answered some questions, but not all. In April 2012, I finally had a chance to inspect the Papers of Ayn Rand, MSS81073 in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. This collection contains two texts of interest:
In these notes, the relevant texts are referred to in chronological order by the following letters:
Based on my research, I now accept the text of the 1946 edition as canonical. However, in these notes I have drawn attention to any differences between the 1946 edition and the marked-up 1938 edition, the Caxton Printers edition of 1953, the later Signet (New American Library) paperback editions, and Project Gutenberg etext #1250, making reference where necessary to the Dutton volume.
I also reference nameless other editions — now that Anthem is in the public domain, it has been reprinted by numerous publishing companies, not all of which have been careful about the text. (It might be surprising that Anthem is in the public domain at all, given that it was published first in 1938 and then in 1946; Project Gutenberg has verified that the American copyright was allowed to lapse by Pamphleteers, Inc., but is careful to note that copyright in other countries remains in force.)
This edition includes textual notes only. I have attempted to refrain from any literary or philosophical commentary on the text, no matter how interesting such an endeavor would have been, since that would have unduly expanded the scope of the notes.
Chapter I, paragraph 3: B and T "only two legs stretched in the mud" vs. P and A "only two legs stretched on the ground". The change from "in the mud" to "on the ground" is not marked by Rand (D 112), although it seems congruent with Rand's outlook (would her hero's feet really be stretched in the mud?) and in any case is more consistent with the later descriptions of the tunnel, which make no mention of mud, muck, mire, or any other combination of dirt and water. Despite the fact that the change is not marked, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 7: Some later editions (including G) have "which we are required to repeat to ourselves" instead of "which we repeat to ourselves", but the three additional words "are required to" are absent from B and A, and are not marked as added by Rand (D 114); therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 8: B divides the lines as "only the great / WE, one, indivisible" but there is a note from Rand to the typesetter to move "WE" to the end of the first line (D 114). The change makes sense on metric grounds, because scanning "We are", "There are", "only", the syllables "in-di" of "indivisible", and the syllables "for-ev" of "forever" as two shorts yields three lines of eight feet each.
Chapter I, paragraph 10: Some later editions (including G) have no comma between "the truth" and "for they are written", but the comma is present in B and in A, and is not marked as removed by Rand (D 115); therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading. B has "Great Re-birth" instead of "Great Rebirth", the hyphen is not marked as removed by Rand (D 115), and the hyphen appears in A. However, C has "Rebirth" with no hyphen (presumably changed from A in accordance with more modern usage), and all editions more recent than C also remove the hyphen. I retain the hyphen for consistency with A.
Chapter I, paragraph 14: B and T have no comma between "five years old" and "we were sent". The comma is not marked by Rand (D 117) but is present in P and in all published editions (A, C, S, G). I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 20: Some later editions (including G) have "You shall do what the Council" instead of "You shall do that which the Council", but "that which" is present in B, is not marked as changed to "what" by Rand (D 119), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 22: Some later editions (including G) have "the day and night" instead of "the day and the night", but "the" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 122), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 24: Some later editions (including G) have "All of the great modern inventions" instead of "All the great modern inventions", but "of" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 122), and is absent from A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 25: Some later editions (including G) omit the phrase "and that we can know them if we try", but this phrase is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 123), and is absent from A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 26: This paragraph has "life Mandate" whereas paragraph 30 has "Life Mandate" with both words capitalized; however, because the inconsistency is present in A, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 27: Some later editions (including G) have "The Council of Vocations came in on the first day" instead of "The Council of Vocations came on the first day", but "in" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 124), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 28: Some later editions (including G) have "Now if the Council said" instead of "Now if the Council has said", but "has" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 124), and is present in A. Some later editions (including G) have "go to work and do not study" instead of "go to work and they do not study", but "they" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 124), and is present in A. In both cases, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 32: Some later editions (including G) have "as cold as blue glass buttons" instead of "as cold blue glass buttons", but the second instance of "as" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 127), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading (where I understand "as" to mean "like").
Chapter I, paragraph 33: B and A "sun-dial" vs. C "sundial", also B and A "one half-hour" vs. C "one-half hour". In both cases the change is not marked by Rand (D 127, 128) and does not occur in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 34: Some later editions (but not C, S, or G) have "Thus we lived" instead of "Thus have we lived", but "have" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 130), and is present in A. Some later editions have "the children stare" instead of "children stare", but "the" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 130), and is absent from A. In both cases I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 35: G has "our crime which has changed" instead of "our crime which changed", but "has" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 132), and is absent from A. Some later editions (but not G) have "to keep these things to study them" instead of "to keep these things and to study them", but "and" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 132), and is present in A. In both cases, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 36: P, A, C, S, and G have "pictures upon the walls" whereas B and T have "pictures upon the walls and upon the floors". When revising the British edition, Rand deleted the second instance of "upon" but she did not delete "the floors" (D 133). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 37: Some later editions (including G) have "This is an evil thing to say, for it is a great transgression, the great Transgression of Preference" whereas B and A "This is an evil thing to say, for it is a transgression, the great Transgression of Preference"; because the first instance of "great" is absent from B, Rand did not mark its addition (D 133), it is absent from A, and its inclusion can be explained as a simple transcription error, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 44: Some later editions (but not G) have "no law permitting to enter" instead of "no law permitting to enter it", but "it" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 135), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 47: Some later editions (including G) have "and we could not believe what we saw" instead of "but we could not believe what we saw". Yet "but" is present in B, is not marked as changed to "and" by Rand (D 136), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 48: Some later editions (including G) have "No man known to us" instead of "No men known to us". But plural "men" is present in B, is not marked as changed to singular "man" by Rand (D 136), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading (which is consistent with the lack of singular nouns for humans until Chapter XI).
Chapter I, paragraph 62: Some later editions (including G) have a comma instead of a period between "dared not drop" and "they whispered". But a period is present in B, is not marked as changed to a comma (thus connecting the sentences) by Rand (D 139), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading of two sentences separated by a period.
Chapter I, paragraph 65: B and T have "unto the stage" but P, A, and all subsequent editions have "onto the stage". I follow the 1946 reading. Some subsequent editions (including G) have no comma after "Later" whereas B and A have "Later, "; I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 66: B and T have "glass vials, and powders, and acids" and "We melt strange metals and we mix acids and we cut open the bodies", whereas P and A have "glass vials and powders and acids" and "We melt strange metals, and we mix acids, and we cut open the bodies". I follow the 1946 reading, despite the fact that the changes are not marked by Rand in her edits to the British edition (D 141).
Chapter I, paragraph 67: B and T "handwritings" vs. P and A "handwriting". I follow the 1946 reading, despite the fact that the change is not marked by Rand (D 142). The change makes sense because the plural would indicate use of the archaic meaning of "handwriting" as "that which is written by hand" (i.e., a manuscript) instead of the modern meaning "a style of writing".
Chapter I, paragraph 68: Some later editions (including G) omit the sentence "But we wish no end to our quest." However, this phrase is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 143), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter I, paragraph 69: P, A, C, S, and G have "no purpose save that we wish to do it" despite the fact that Rand clearly wrote "no purpose save that we want to do it" in her edits to B (D 143) and this is reflected also in T. Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading by showing "wish" instead of "want". Some later editions (including G) have "not free for the human heart to ponder", but "not for the human heart to ponder" is present in B and in A, and the addition of "free" was not marked in Rand's edits (D 143); therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 5: Some later editions (including G) have "for the first time we knew fear" instead of "for the first time did we know fear", but "did we know" is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 147), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 7: P, A, C, S, and G have "looked at" in both instances here, whereas B and T have "looked upon". Rand did not mark "upon" as changed to "at" in her edits to B (D 148). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading. (Note that "look upon" is the much more common construction throughout the text, but is generally used when the looking is more personal or intimate, whereas here Equality 7-2521 is looking at Liberty 5-3000 from afar.)
Chapter II, paragraph 8: Some later editions (including G) have "straight in our eyes" instead of "straight into our eyes", which is present in B, is not marked as changed by Rand (D 148), and is present in A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 9: C has "were not long looking upon us" instead of "were not looking upon us", but "long" is absent from B, is not marked as added by Rand (D 149), and is absent from A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 11: C has "their name if Liberty 5-3000" instead of "their name is Liberty 5-3000" as in B, A, S, and G; this is a clear typographical error.
Chapter II, paragraph 12: G has "it is a sin to give men other names which distinguish them from other men", whereas B, A, C, and S have "it is a sin to give men names which distinguish them from other men"; because the first instance of "other" appears to be an error of transcription, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 14: G has no comma after "Today" whereas B, A, C, and S have such a comma ("Today, "); therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 15: P, A, C, S, and G have "looking at us", whereas B and T have "looking upon us". As in paragraph 9 above, Rand did not mark "upon" as changed to "at" in her edits to B (D 152). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 46: G has "shakes with sobs so they cannot explain" instead of "shakes with sobs they cannot explain" as in B, A, C, and S; because the inclusion of "so" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 47: G has "in the dim light of candles" instead of "in the dim light of the candles" as in B, A, C, and S; because the deletion of "the" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 48: G has "our Councils say this is only a legend" instead of "our Councils say that this is only a legend" as in B, A, C, and S; because the deletion of "that" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 49: G has "And in these fires the Evil Ones were burned." However, in B, A, C, and S the text of this sentence is "And in these fires the Evil Ones and all the things made by the Evil Ones were burned." I retain the 1938/1946 reading. Some later editions also omit various other parts of this paragraph (e.g., about the burning of the scripts), but I consider those editions to be clearly in error.
Chapter II, paragraph 51: Some later editions (including G) have "such a question" instead of "such question" as in B, A, C, and S; I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 53: G has "but which has been" instead of "but which had been" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "had" to "has" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter II, paragraph 54: Some later editions (including G) have "led him to the pyre" instead of "led them to the pyre" as in B, A, C, and S; I consider "him" to be a clear error of transcription given that singular pronouns are unknown elsewhere in the novel until Chapter XI.
Chapter III, paragraph 1: G has "and we are to know it" instead of "and we alone are to know it" as in B, A, C, and S; because Rand did not mark the change (D 167), I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter III, paragraph 2: G has "all the things which are not known by all" instead of "the things which are not known by all" as in B, A, C, and S; because the inclusion of "all" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter III, paragraph 3: P, A, C, S, and G have "a miracle which had never occurred before", whereas B and T have "a miracle which had never occurred upon earth". In her edits to the British edition the only change that Rand marked here was "upon" to "on" (D 169). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter III, paragraph 4: G has "was another miracle" instead of "was as another miracle" as in B, A, C, and S; because Rand did not mark the change (D 169), I retain the 1938/1946 reading (again understanding "as" to mean "like").
Chapter IV, paragraph 11: G has "Such thoughts are forbidden" instead of "Such thoughts as these are forbidden" as in B, A, C, and S; because "as these" is not marked as removed by Rand (D 174) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IV, paragraph 16: G has "those words" instead of "these words" as in B, A, C, and S; because "those" is not marked as changed by Rand (D 175) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IV, paragraph 28: G has "they knew it but did not move" instead of "they knew it, but did not move", but the comma is present in B, A, C, and S; because the comma is not marked as removed by Rand (D 177) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter V, paragraph 2: G has "the light which we had made" instead of "the light which we have made" as in A, C, and S; because the addition of "which we have made" is marked by Rand in her edits to the British edition (D 179) and because the change from "have" to "had" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter V, paragraph 7: G has "sweeping streets" instead of "sweeping the streets" as in B, A, C, and S; because removal of "the" is not marked by Rand (D 181) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter V, paragraph 10: G has "this wire is a part of our body" instead of "this wire is as a part of our body" as in B, A, C, and S; because "as" is not marked as removed by Rand (D 183) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading (again understanding "as" to mean "like").
Chapter VI, paragraph 2: G has "When we remembered" instead of "When we remembered it" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "it" is not marked by Rand (D 185) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VI, paragraph 3: G has "and our light with us" instead of "and our light found with us" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "found" is not marked by Rand (D 185) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VI, paragraph 10: G has "then pain struck us" instead of "then the pain struck us" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "the" is not marked by Rand (D 187) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VI, paragraph 17: C, S, and G have a question mark before the ellipsis ("been?..."), yet the question mark is absent from B, Rand did not mark its addition (D 189), and it is absent from A; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 2: G has "none about the Palace" instead of "none about from the Palace" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "from" is not marked by Rand (D 193) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 3: G has "the rise of a great sky" instead of "the rise of the great sky" as in B, T, P, A, C, and S; because the change from "the" to "a" is not marked by Rand (D 194) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading. More significantly, B and M have an extra sentence between "[...] the rise of the great sky." and "There were men whose famous names [...]"; that interpolated sentence reads "There were strange men there, men with white skin like ours, and men with black skin, and men with yellow skin, all dressed alike in white togas." (D 194) This sentence was removed in P and not included in A or subsequent editions. I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 14: G has "placed our glass box on the table" instead of "placed our glass box upon the table" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "upon" to "on" is not marked by Rand (D 196) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 19: G has "Let us work together" instead of "Let us all work together" as in A, C, and S; because the addition of "all" is marked by Rand (D 197) and its omission in G appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 25: G has "if the Council decreed that you be a Street Sweeper" instead of "if the Councils had decreed that you should be a Street Sweeper" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "Councils" to "Council" and the removal of "had" and "should be" are not marked by Rand (D 198) and appear to be transcription errors, I retain the 1938/1946 readings.
Chapter VII, paragraph 26: G has "the thoughts of one and not of many" instead of "the thoughts of the one and not of the many" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "the" is not marked by Rand (D 199) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 33: G has "So you think you have found a new power [...] Do you think all your brothers think that?" instead of "So you think that you have found a new power [...] Do all your brothers think that?" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "that" and the addition of "you think" are not marked by Rand (D 200) and appear to be transcription errors, I retain the 1938/1946 readings.
Chapter VII, paragraph 44: P, A, C, S, and G have "pointed at our box", whereas B and T have "pointed their finger at our box". Rand did not mark "their finger" as deleted (D 201). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 49: G has "such as is not fit for humans to know" instead of "such as it is not fit for humans to know" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "it" is not marked by Rand (D 202) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 52: P, A, C, S, and G have "Then we ran.", whereas B and T have "Then we were up on our feet once more, and we ran." In her edits to the British edition, Rand did not mark "we were up on our feet once more, and" as deleted (D 202). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 55: G has "we rose, we took our box, and walked on" instead of "we rose, we took our box and walked on" as in A, C, and S (as edited from the text in B); because the addition of the second comma appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 56: G has "they never entered the Uncharted Forest" instead of "they never enter the Uncharted Forest" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "entered" to "enter" is not marked by Rand (D 204) — and because in Chapter II it is mentioned that "once or twice in a hundred years, one among the men of the City escape alone and run to the Uncharted Forest" — I retain the 1938/1946 reading. Furthermore, G has "we wished to be away from the City" instead of "we wished to be away, away from the City" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "away, " is not marked by Rand (D 204) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VII, paragraph 59: Some later editions omit the sentence "We have not many days to live." However, this sentence is found in B, A, C, S, and G, and is not marked as removed by Rand (D 205), so I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VIII, paragraph 2: G has "We wanted to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap to our feet every morning of our life" instead of "We wanted to leap to our feet, as we have had to leap every morning of our life" as in B, A, C, and S; because the addition of the second instance of "to our feet" is not marked by Rand (D 206) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VIII, paragraph 3: G has "but before we knew it, our body had risen in one leap" instead of "but before we knew it our body had risen in one leap" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of the comma is not marked by Rand (D 207) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VIII, paragraph 4: G has "we went into the forest" instead of "we went on into the forest" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "on" was not marked by Rand (D 208) — and because Equality 7-2521 was already in the forest by this time — I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VIII, paragraph 6: G has "the sky at the bottom" instead of "the sky lay at the bottom" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "lay" is not marked by Rand (D 209) as appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter VIII, paragraph 7: G has "we felt no pity when we looked upon it" instead of "we felt no pity when looking upon it" as in A, C, and S; because Rand changed the text from "it gave us no shame to look upon it" in B to "we felt no pity when looking upon it" in A (D 210) and the change from "looking" in A, C, and S to "we looked" in G appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 9: G has "How came you to be in the forest?" instead of "How come you to be in the forest?" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "come" to "came" is not marked by Rand (D 213), because "come" is consistent with paragraph 6 ("How come you to be here, Golden One?"), and because the change appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 22: P, A, C, S, and G have "There is no danger in solitude.", whereas B and T have "There is no danger in solitude, and no death." In her edits to B, Rand did not mark ", and no death" as deleted (D 216). Nevertheless, I follow the 1946 reading. Furthermore, G has "there is joy between us" instead of "there is joy as a bond between us" as in B, T, P, A, C, and S; because the removal of "as a bond" was not marked by Rand (D 216) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 24: G has "the body of a woman" instead of "the body of women" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "women" to "woman" is not marked by Rand (D 217), because use of the plural is consistent with usage of "men" instead of "man" and "women" instead of "woman" until Chapter XI of the text, and because the change appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 26: T, P, A, C, S, and G have "water and fruit", whereas Rand's edits to B have "fruit and water" (D 217). I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 30: G has "as we walk the forest" instead of "as we walk through the forest" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "through" is not marked by Rand (D 220) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter IX, paragraph 31: G has "the good of their brothers" instead of "the good of all their brothers" and "the power created" instead of "the power we created"; because the removal of "all" and "we" are not marked by Rand (D 220) and appear to be transcription errors in G, I retain the 1938/1946 readings.
Chapter IX, paragraph 37: T, P, A, C, S, and G have a comma between "halting" and "like", whereas B has no comma and it is not marked for addition by Rand (D 221). I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 2: G has "we have been crossing" and "rose among cliffs" instead of "we had been crossing" and "rose among the cliffs" as in B, T, P, A, C, and S; because these changes are not marked by Rand (D 222) and appear to be transcription errors in G, I retain the 1938/1946 readings. Furthermore, T, P, A, C, S, and G have no comma between "rock" and "we", yet B has the comma (thus "stretch of rock, we saw great peaks") and it is not marked for removal by Rand (D 222). I follow the 1946 reading. Finally, P, A, C, S, and G have "blue mists as veils", whereas B and T have "blue mists as crowns". Although this change is not marked by Rand (D 223), I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 5: G has "the windows went on straight around corners, though how this house kept standing" instead of "the windows went on straight around the corners, though how this kept the house standing" as in B, A, C, and S; because the changes are not marked by Rand (D 224) and appear to be transcription errors in G, I retain the 1938/1946 readings.
Chapter X, paragraph 6: In her edits to B, Rand clearly marked a new paragraph at "We turned to the Golden One and we asked:" (D 225); however, this change was not reflected in T, P, A or later editions. I follow the 1946 reading. (Subsequent paragraph counts in these notes ignore the additional paragraph break.)
Chapter X, paragraph 9: G has "we thought it strange" instead of "we thought it was strange" as in A, C, and S; because Rand added the words "We thought it was strange that men had been permitted to build a house for only twelve." in her edits to B (D 225) and because the removal of "was" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 10: G has "colors, colors, and more colors" instead of "colors, colors, more colors"; because the removal of "and" was not marked by Rand (D 226) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 12: P, A, C, S, and G have "garments, and the Golden One", whereas B and T have "garments, rows of garments, and the Golden One". Although "rows of garments," is not marked for removal by Rand (D 227), I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 13: G has "the letters on their pages were small and so even" instead of "the letters on their pages were so small and so even" as in B, A, C, and S; because removal of the first instance of "so" was not marked by Rand (D 227) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading. Furthermore, here again I accept the change from "handwritings" in B and T (D 228) to "handwriting" in P, A, C, and S (see note above on Chapter I, paragraph 67).
Chapter X, paragraph 19: T, P, A, C, S, and G have "asleep on the floor, amidst jewels", whereas B has "asleep on the floor, amidst all the garments they had found, amidst jewels". Although "amidst all the garments they had found," is not marked for removal by Rand (D 230), I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 20: Some later versions have "greater gift for us" (or even omit the entire phrase "but it wishes a greater gift from us", as in G); however, B has ", but it wishes a greater gift from us", no changes are marked by Rand (D 231), and the same text is found in A, C, and S. Therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 21: Some later versions have "hid the great secrets" but B, A, C, S, and G have "hid great secrets"; because the addition of "the" is not marked by Rand (D 232), I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter X, paragraph 22: G has "this secret" instead of "the secret" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "the" to "this" was not marked by Rand (D 232) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter XI, paragraph 15: In her edits to B (D 238), Rand wrote "For the word 'WE' must never be spoken [...]" with "WE" in all capital letters (perhaps echoing the title of Yevgeny Zamyatin's novel WE); in A, C, S, and G this is "We" in initial capitals, which I retain for the sake of consistency. G has "and an unspeakable lie" instead of "and of an unspeakable lie" as in the edits to B (D 238) and as in A, C, and S; because the removal of "of" and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter XI, paragraph 17: G has "the botched and impotent" and "to bow, to agree, and to obey" instead of "the botched and the impotent" and "to bow, to agree and to obey" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "the" and the addition of the serial comma are not marked by Rand (D 240) and appear to be transcription errors in G, I retain the 1938/1946 readings.
Chapter XII, paragraph 6: G has "He took the light of the gods and brought it to men" instead of "He took the light of the gods and he brought it to men" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "he" is not marked by Rand (D 243) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 11: G has "dullest among them" instead of "dullest ones among them" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "ones" is not marked by Rand (D 245) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 12: G has "the power of the sky" instead of "my power of the sky" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change of "my" to "the" is not marked by Rand (D 245) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 13: Some later editions (including G) omit the sentence "Our son will be raised as a man." However, this sentence is present in B, is not marked as removed by Rand (D 245), and is present in A, C, and S; therefore I retain the 1938/1946 reading. Furthermore, G has "to walk straight on his own feet" instead of "to walk straight and on his own feet" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "and" is not marked by Rand (D 245) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 15: Some later editions (but not G) have "This and nothing else." instead of "That and nothing else" as in B (D 247), A, C, S, and G; I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 16: G has "threshold of freedom" instead of "threshold of the freedom" as in B, A, C, and S; because the removal of "the" is not marked by Rand (D 248) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 17: B and T have the entirety of this paragraph as "And then came the twilight." (D 248) However, P, A, C, S, and G all have the paragraph as "But then he gave up all he had won, and fell lower than his savage beginning." I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 19: G has "such as spirit existed", "their great numbers" , and "They answered" instead of "such spirit as existed", "their great number", and "They were answered" as in B, T, P, A, C, and S; because these edits are not marked by Rand (D 249) and appear to be transcription errors in G, I retain the 1938/1946 readings. Furthermore, T, P, A, C, S, and G have "all the things they had not created", whereas Rand's edits to B have "all the things which they had not created". Although "which" is not marked for removal by Rand (D 249), I follow the 1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 20: G has "what they had lost" instead of "what they lost" as in Rand's edits to B (D 250) and as in A, C, and S; because the inclusion of "had" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 21: G has "those few" instead of "these few" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "these" to "those" is not marked by Rand (D 251) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 23: G has "break the chains" instead of "break all the chains" as in Rand's edits to B (D 252) and as in A, C, and S; because the removal of "all" appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading.
Chapter XII, paragraph 24: G has "I shall fight" instead of "shall I fight" as in B, A, C, and S; because the change from "shall I" to "I shall" is not marked by Rand (D 252) and appears to be a transcription error in G, I retain the 1938/1946 reading. At the end of this paragraph, B and T have "For the freedom of Man. For his right. For his honour. For his glory." In her edits to B, Rand removed the final sentence, changed "honour" to "honor", changed "right" to "rights", and interpolated a new sentence between the first and the second, reading "For his life." (D 252). In P and A, the interpolated sentence is not second (as indicated by Rand) but third, resulting in the text "For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor." All subsequent editions (C, S, G, etc.) follow A here. I follow the 1946 reading.
Last Updated: 2013-09-06