English: No permission is required because the portrait is in the public domain.
First, the photo is a mechanical scan/photocopy cover and does not qualify for independent copyright protection.
Second, the portrait was first published prior to 1978 without a valid copyright notice. Atlas Shrugged was first published in 1957; the hardcover book itself carried a copyright notice, so its contents remain copyrighted. However, the first-edition dust jacket did not carry a separate copyright notice. According to The Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices: Chapter 2200, § 2207.1(C) at p. 15:
"A notice of copyright on the dust jacket of a book is not an acceptable notice for the book, because the dust jacket is not permanently attached to the book. Likewise, a notice appearing in a book is not an acceptable notice for the dust jacket or any material appearing on that dust jacket, even if the book refers to the jacket or material appearing on the jacket."
Keep in mind that the pre-1989 requirements for copyright notice were highly formalistic and, other than a few enumerated exceptions, required these three elements:
"The name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner."
If just one of these elements is omitted, the work is deemed to be published without notice and is not eligible for copyright protection. Neither the year nor a copyright symbol appear anywhere on the dust jacket.
This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications made by Blz 2049.
Licensing
This file is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.
Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.
Captions
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== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description={{en|1=Photo portrait of Russian-American writer Ayn Rand used for the first-edition back cover of her novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957).}} |Source={{en|1=Scan via [https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/ayn-rand-atlas-shrugged-random-house-1957-first-edition/a/6100-36545.s Heritage Auctions Lot #36545]. Cropped from the original image and retouched; see upload history below for unretouched original.}} |Date=1957...
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