Ray Kroc

Inscribed first edition of the McDonald's founder's memoir of his empire-building reign of hamburger dominance — specially-bound and stamped with the golden arches.

• Ray Kroc (American).
• With Robert Anderson, preface by Paul D. Paganucci.
• Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, (1977).
• 201, [1] pages.
• Inscribed by Kroc on front free endpaper: "to Rick Sourapas / Best Wishes / Ray Kroc."
• Original gilt-stamped brown leather, gilt spine lettering, all edges gilt.

"Now a hamburger patty is a piece of meat. But a McDonald's hamburger patty is a piece of meat with character."

At the "still green and growing" age of 52, Chicago-born piano player and Multimixer salesman Ray Kroc became the first franchise agent for the McDonald brothers. Seven successful years later, in 1961, he bought them out but retained the name, ascending to further heights of fast-food glory over the coming decades as McDonald's chairman. Along the way, Kroc grumbles about OSHA regulations and labor unions, buys the San Diego Padres, and donates a quarter of a million dollars to Richard Nixon's presidential campaign.

Kroc's memoir was a major source for the 2016 acclaimed film The Founder, starring Michael Keaton. Screenwriter Robert Siegel described his continuing ambivalence about his subject: "Sometimes I watch and all the way through I kind of strangely admire him, [and sometimes] I just think he's a complete bastard. So I think the truth is probably both."

A deluxe edition (likely produced for employees, executives, and prominent franchisees) from one of the 20th century's most successful CEOs and entrepreneurs.