ALL THE PRETTY HORSES: A SIGNED PROOF, IN A RARE BUT DISPUTABLE TRIAL DUSTJACKET
All the Pretty Horses, proof in its first state, the front cover.
All the Pretty Horses, Uncorrected Proof, First State
Knopf, New York, 1992
Uncorrected proof of the first edition, first state. Softcover, 21 x 13.6 cm, 297 numbered pages. Beige wrappers printed in black on the spine and front cover. The front panel includes the text: “Volume One of A Border Trilogy” and gives a tentative publication date of “MAY 1992” (APG, 006c).
Signed by Cormac McCarthy in black ballpoint pen on the half-title page.
This copy is wrapped in an exceptionally scarce example of a trial dust jacket printed on matte paper. It features a capital “A” on the front flap printed in grey (rather than green, as in the first trade edition jacket). The jacket includes four blurbs on the back panel, omitting the Publisher’s Weekly endorsement. The Barry Lopez blurb differs slightly from the version found on the trade edition, and the white band at the bottom is narrower than in the first-issue trade dust jacket. The reverse of the front panel is stamped “PROOF” in black ink. This trial jacket differs from the better-known glossy “four blurbs” jacket in two ways: the paper stock (matte instead of glossy) and the “PROOF” stamp, absent from the latter.
Condition: Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Provenance: From the collection of Robert Sproull, purchased from him in 2010.
Issued between January and April 1992, in approximately 750 copies (including all four known states).
These proofs are preceded only by the larger format proof, printed in significantly fewer number.
APG lists three states of this proof (006c, 006d, 006e), omitting a variant that reads “The Border Trilogy” with “The” hand-corrected but lacking the handwritten publication date “4” on the front cover. However, Howard Woolmer, in his bibliographic notes archived at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, correctly identifies four distinct states:
First state: Front cover reads “A Border Trilogy.”
Second state: The article “A” is manually corrected to “The” in black felt-tip pen.
Third state: As above, but with the addition of the numeral “4” in black ink to indicate the tentative publication date.
Fourth state: The corrections from the third state are incorporated into the printed design.
The figure of 750 copies comes directly from Gary Fisketjon, editor of All the Pretty Horses at Knopf, who wrote in an email to me dated February 18, 2024:
“We would’ve made around 750 copies of this galley for distribution by the sales, marketing, and publicity departments. The great majority went to our sales reps, booksellers, and book reviewers. I would’ve ordered at least fifty myself, to send to writers I revered and whose endorsements we hoped would attract readers. We knew Cormac wasn’t willing to do a reading tour—he had never done one and we respected that—so we invested the savings into promotional galleys and, later, advertising.”
All the Pretty Horses, first state of the proof, the dustjacket back panel featuring only four blurb.
Dust Jacket: Although some proof copies are known to have mock-up jackets or promotional material stapled to the inside front cover, this is the only example I have encountered wrapped in a complete trial dust jacket. While similar to the rare later trial jacket (see [reference n…]), this version differs in its use of matte paper and the presence of the “PROOF” stamp on the verso. These differences appear sufficient to identify it as an earlier state. However, I have some doubts about its authenticity. While it is married to a first-state proof, internal evidence suggests the jacket was produced later. Notably, the back flap refers to the book as “the first volume of The Border Trilogy,” not “A Border Trilogy,” confirming it postdates the proof.
All the Pretty Horses, proof in the first state, the dustjacket front flap featuring the capital “A” in grey rather than in green.
Forgeries: At least one forged example has been documented. It features an authentic first-state proof falsely stamped “Alfred A. Knopf PRINTER’S PROOF” in red ink on the front cover. Additionally, the front cover reads “March 1992” rather than “May 1992”. It is paired with a trimmed glossy dust jacket containing four blurbs and an image of a horse not found on any genuine edition. Chip Kidd, the original designer of the All the Pretty Horses dustjacket, confirmed to me that he had never seen that image, and declared it a forgery.
Recipient: A remarkable man, Robert C. “Doc” Sproull was born in 1920 in Pennsylvania and served in the U.S. military for over 30 years. He saw combat during World War II with the 80th Infantry Division under Patton’s Third Army and later served in Korea under direct enemy fire. While in Korea, he befriended a young army physician named Jack Kevorkian—later known to the world as “Dr. Death.”
After retiring as a Colonel and Chief of the Hospital Dental Service at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Sproull practiced dentistry privately for another 23 years. He was a man of many passions: treasure hunting, art, gourmet cooking, and collecting pre-Columbian artifacts and rare books. He built an impressive personal library (see Jan Girand, “Robert ‘Bob’ C. Sproull aka ‘Doc’,” Roswell Web Magazine).
In 2010, Sproull described his connection to McCarthy in an email to me:
“I’ve always loved books and bought more than my fair share. In 1965, I was stationed at William Beaumont in El Paso, Texas. A series of fortunate events allowed me to build a Cormac McCarthy collection of signed editions. I regularly visited George Skans at The Book Gallery and Irv Brown at Hi Books. It was Irv who introduced me to McCarthy’s work, insisting I read Blood Meridian. He sold me a secondhand copy for $120—high for the time—but it was worth it. I was hooked. At the time, Cormac lived in El Paso and did his laundry every Friday at the laundromat next to Hi Books. While waiting, he’d hang out in the store. Irv helped me meet him—finally—after several missed attempts. Once we connected, it became routine: I’d drop off books at Hi Books and Cormac would sign them when he came in. He signed everything—hardcover or paperback. When All the Pretty Horses came out, I bought about twenty copies and he signed them all. Same for The Crossing, although those are mostly inscribed to named individuals, as Cormac had become more cautious about autographs by then. He later moved to Santa Fe and access to signed books became much harder. I gave away or traded many of them (which I now regret), but I still have a strong sampling. As I’m approaching 90, it’s time to find them a new home.”
Notable Copies:
The Murray Copy: A fourth-state proof inscribed to Dr. Philip Murray, a friend of McCarthy and noted collector of modern firsts. It sold at Fonsie Mealy Auctions as part of a significant lot.
Collectibility and Market Trends: Rare Book Hub lists 13 copies of this proof at auction, covering all four states. Only one— the Murray copy—was signed or inscribed. As of July 2025, AbeBooks lists seven unsigned copies, with none signed or inscribed. While unsigned proofs are uncommon, they are not rare. Based on current AbeBooks listings, the first state appears most frequently (4 copies), followed by the fourth (2), and second (1); no third-state copies are listed. However, the dataset is too small for definitive conclusions.
All the Pretty Horses, proof in first state, the McCarthy’s signature on the front free endpaper.
Signed or inscribed proofs are genuinely scarce. In 17 years of collecting, I’ve encountered only six, with just three inscribed to known individuals: Philip Murray, Laurence Gonzales, and bookseller James Cahill.
As for having an idea about prices, I purchased this copy for $1,750 back in 2010; a copy inscribed to Richard Barter was offered in 2024 for $3,500; the Cahill copy sold for $2,150 in the same year.
