Suttree, uncorrected proof Random House, New York, 1978 Uncorrected proof of the first edition. Softcover, 21 x 13,6 cm., 470 numbered pages. Red wrappers lettered in black on the front panel which reads: “Uncorrected Proofs”. White paper label taped to the front cover, as often found in the Random House proofs, with “Advance Proofs [Uncorrected]”, Random House imprint and logo printed on it, price of “$10.95” and “February [space], 1979” as date of publication typed on. Laid in is a…
Suttree, first English edition Chatto & Windus, London, 1980. First English edition, first and only printing with “1980” on the title page. Hardcover, 21,5 x 14,6 cm., 471 numbered pages. Publisher’s cream paper covered and black cloth boards lettered in gilt on the spine, with gilt initials “CM” on the front panel and the Random House imprint at spine foot. This English issue is made from the American sheets, with Chatto & Windus title and copyright pages inserted in. Dustjacket…
Child of God (Figlio di Dio), first Italian edition Einaudi, Torino, 2000 First Italian edition, only printing with complete numberlines from 0 to 6 and from 2003 to 2006 on a colophon page bound after the text pages which reads: “Stampato … nel mese di luglio 2000”. Hardcover, 22,1 x 14,5 cm., 186 numbered pages. Publisher’s original greenish grey cloth lettered in black on the spine. White dustjacket lettered in black with a photograph by Gerd Kittel on the front…
This is neither a Cormac McCarthy bibliography, as I am not a bibliographer, nor a critical essay, as I am not a scholar. The project started three years ago when I retired. Having more free time, I thought it would be good to catalogue my collection of McCarthy books. However, as I delved into them, I realized that many details about publication, first print runs, different issues, and so on were unknown, not based on strong sources, or even definitely wrong. Moreover, some of the people to whom the books were inscribed were similarly little known and had interesting stories worth telling.
So, I started digging into relevant archives mainly in the United States and England, speaking with McCarthy’s friends, publishers, and scholars, reading critical and biographical essays. What you find on this website is part of this research outcome. It aims just to share with McCarthy lovers, collectors, scholars and book dealers, information which sheds light on some little known aspects of McCarthy’s books history and about people whose lives crossed that of the author of Blood Meridian.
This is obviously a work in progress. In the next weeks, I will add information on all the over 250 items included in my McCarthy collection. Register with your email address to receive notifications about new contents added.
Lastly, English is not my mother tongue, so please be forgiving of any errors you may find in the text. Happy reading.
An Interview with Manu Larcenet, one of the greatest illustrators in Europe, who is the author of “La Route”, the first graphic novel based on a book by Cormac McCarthy.
Suttree, uncorrected proof Random House, New York, 1978 Uncorrected proof of the first edition. Softcover, 21 x 13,6 cm., 470 numbered pages. Red wrappers lettered in black on the front panel which reads: “Uncorrected Proofs”. White paper label taped to the front cover, as often found in the Random House proofs, with “Advance Proofs [Uncorrected]”, Random House imprint and logo printed on it, price of “$10.95” and “February [space], 1979” as date of publication typed on. Laid in is a typed letter on Random House letterhead signed by Cheryl Merser, publicity manager, addressed to “Dear Reviewer”, announcing the publication of…
The books by Cormac McCarthy entered the rare books trade and the collecting world very early. As far as we know, McCarthy’s friend Gary Goodman was among the first to trade signed copies of The Orchard Keeper and Outer Dark.
On February, 1971 Goodman, having noted a few copies of The Orchard Keeper offered by second hand bookstores for more than the original price, purchased from Random House forty-five copies of Outer Dark and five copies of The Orchard Keeper (probably from the second printing) at a reduced price. He got them signed by McCarthy and resold them at $ 12.50 each. McCarthy was known to a narrow circle at the time and modern firsts market was just starting. Nominal prices were many hundred times lower than those usual today.
The McCarthy’s readers and fun community on Reddit, as far as I know the largest in existence, has overcome 30,000 registered people.
"Wake for Susan" and "A Drowning Incident", originally published in 1959 and 1960 in the college review The Phoenix under the name C.J. McCarthy, are among the rarest and most hard to find items in the McCarthy canon. I was able to locate just one set in private hands.
It is, in my opinion, a beautiful portrait. It was taken in the second half of the 80s in El Paso by Cynthia Farah Haines, photographer, writer and Cormac McCarthy’s friend. It was not included though in her book “Literature and Landscape” which collects 50 portraits of southwestern writers and was saved in Cynthia Farah Photograph Collection Writers of the Southwest held at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
The first graphic novel based on a Cormac McCarthy’s novel is already available. The Road was adapted by Manu Larcenet and has been published in French as “La Route” on March, 29 both in hardcover by Dargaud and paperback by Points. It was followed on April, 12 by the Italian version published by Coconino Press. The English version is expected to be out in hardcover on September, 17 (Abrams ComicArt).