---

A document held in the Random House Archive (RH, 1156) shows that 12 “bound galleys” were sent to reviewers on September, 25. The archive doesn’t mention other copies being sent out. 

To have a term of comparison Pantheon Books in 1958 asked Crane to print 30 copies to be sent to reviewers and book clubs for the first American edition of Doctor Zhivago, which they believed would be a best seller (The Barnstable Patriot, October 20, 1988). More recently, in 1969, Crane printed just 39 copies for the first edition of Slaugtherhouse-Five by Vonnegut published by Delacorte. 

Two copies of these Child of God proofs, were sent to John Baker at Publishers Weekly and Anatole Broyard at The New York Times. Their reviews appeared on October, 29 and December 5, 1973 indeed, well before the first trade edition was published (January 2, 1974) and even the finished review copies in dust jacket were available.

GALLEY COPIES: These proofs were preceded by galleys marked “1ST PASS” and page proofs marked “2ND PASS” available respectively on May 16, and June 22, 1973. A few copies of the latter were sent out between June, 25 and July, 3. In a letter to the poet and novelist James Dickey, dated June, 25, which included a copy of the galleys, Albert Erskine asked to know “your response” to the book. Other recipients were Robert Penn Warren, William Styron and Gordon Lish then the “Captain Fiction” at Esquire. As far as I know none of these has appeared on the market.  

FORGERIES: A copy of Albert Erskine’s “long galley”, along with an alike copy for Blood Meridian, was offered on March, 2013 to a few collectors. The galleys were described as such: “the galley proofs of BM and Child of God from Erskine–these are never on the market–very unusual pieces that measure 6 inches by 17 inches”. They were produced by Stephen Pastore and were forgeries.    A proof copy appeared on the social media at the end of 2023. It was part of a group of McCarthy proofs which included also some genuine copies. It is a fake though. It is recognizable by the different characters of typing in the lettering and by the different shape of the line on the front cover. It is clearly produced reproducing the design of a genuine proof copy of The Orchard Keeper.  

PROVENANCE: purchased at Heritage Auction in 2009.  

CRANE DUPLICATING SERVICE: As for Crane Duplicating Service, Ken Lopez in the introduction to his catalog “Modern Literature. Uncorrected Proofs and Advance Copies” (August, 1996) writes: “It wasn’t until well into the Fifties, however, that the practice that has become commonplace today – of sending out an “uncorrected” edition months before publication – became widespread. The motivator behind the movement seems to have been the printer – Crane Duplicating Service, on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts – who sent out brochures to the publishing industry advocating the cost-effectiveness of their product and suggesting the many benefits that could accrue to the publisher who had Crane print an advance edition, which could be used for a range of purposes, both technical and promotional. […] By the Sixties, the major publishers were routinely doing bound softcover volumes of “uncorrected proofs” – which, for a time, were called “Cranes,” after the printing company that had proposed them”. 

Crane issued proof copies of many great books then, from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee to Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut, who was living in Cape Cod, wrote a short story titled “You’ve never been to Barnstable?” reprinted in a 1966 booklet dedicated “at Christmas for the friends of Crane Duplicating Service, Inc.”.  

NOTABLE COPY:

• WOOLMER COPY. The Woolmer collection held at The University of Texas, San Marcos has a very nice copy, in brick red wrappers, usual Random House white publisher’s slip taped to the front cover, lettered in red and typed in black. It reads “Jan. 2, 1974” as date of publication. Publisher’s review slip mentioning  the same date laid in. Stamping “…ollow will correct” on p. 8. Signed in blue crayon and in an early hand on the title page.

COLLECTING TOPICS: this is in my experience the rarest American proof of McCarthy’s works appeared in the market. 

Rare Book Hub records just this copy at auction. Murray’s , Ford’s and Gonzales’ collections lacks it.  

Aside from this copy and Woolmer’s one, I could locate only another copy listed by Ken Lopez in his Catalog 129 (2003). APG mentions another copy listed by Lopez in 2004 but they are the same ones. Lopez described it as such: “A very scarce, early McCarthy proof: this is the only copy we have ever seen and, other than the advance reading copy of The Orchard Keeper that turns up with some frequency, the earliest McCarthy proof we have seen. A very near fine copy”. It was offered for $3,500.