Blood Meridian, first Modern Library edition
Random House, New York, 2001
First Modern Library edition, first printing with a complete number line (246897531) on the copyright page. Hardcover, 19.1 x 12.7 cm, V-XIII + 335 numbered pages. Publisher’s grey cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine with the torchbearer logo embossed on front board and torchbearer motif on the endpapers. Silver and brown dustjacket, lettered in black, featuring a photo of McCarthy by Marion Ettlinger on the front panel, Ralph Ellison and Robert Penn Warren blurbs on the back panel, price “U.S.A. $19.95 Canada $29.95” on the front flap and a list of available Modern Library titles on the dustjacket verso. Introduction by Harold Bloom.
Warmly inscribed in black ballpoint pen, on the half title page, to McCarthy’s longtime friend Carl Wolitzky: “For Carl/ Santa Fe New Mexico/ 2002 / 30 years of / Friendship / Cormac McCarthy”.
CONDITION: unread, near fine in a near fine dustjacket.
PROVENANCE: purchased from Houle Rare Books & Autographs, Palm Beach, Ca, in 2011.
The introduction by Harold Bloom, in which the scholar praises McCarthy as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, makes this edition especially notable.
The date of publication and the number of copies printed in the first run remain unknown to me, for now.
RECIPIENT:Although we don’t know much about Carl and where and why he met McCarthy, his identity is certain, because the book comes from Carl Wolitzky’s son, Eric. Besides, I sold a few years ago a copy of Cities of the Plain inscribed by McCarthy to Eric, with an autograph note and the original envelope addressed in McCarthy’s hand to “Eric Wolitzky”. Other McCarthy’s book inscribed to Carl are known (among them a copy of the first edition of Blood Meridian which evidences a truly longstanding friendship).
COLLECTING TOPICS: Signed or inscribed copies of this important edition are scarce. Actually, I have seen only four, including a second printing.
Many years ago, the collector and dealer Karl Monger from Austin, Texas, sold a signed copy for $520. Another first printing copy, just signed, was offered about twenty years later by Raptis Rare Books for $3,000. In 2022 a nice inscribed copy of the second printing was listed by Amir Naghib of Captain Ahab Rare Books and later purchased and offered by Burnside Rare Books for $4,500.
Rare Book Hub lists only two copies at auction, both merely signed. One of them is a seventh printing.
However, copies with such a warm inscription to a friend and with such a solid provenance are definitely rare.
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