Cities of the Plain, first Australian edition
Picador, Sydney, 1998
First Australian edition, first printing with complete number line (135798642) on the copyright page. Hardcover, 22.3 x 14 cm, 291 numbered pages. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in silver on spine. Text-block top edge unstained. Publisher’s white dustjacket lettered in black and brick red. With a photograph of a detail of “Wheat Stubble Fire, Eastern Colorado” by Larry Schwarm on the front panel, photograph of McCarthy by Marion Ettlinger on the back flap. The back cover has five praise for All the Pretty Horses by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph; Geoff Dyer, Guardian; Andrew Clements, Financial Times; Stephen Amidon, Sunday Times; Blake Morrison; and two praise for The Crossing by Erica Wagner, The Times; John Banville, Irish Times.
CONDITION: near fine book in a near fine dustjacket.
PROVENANCE: purchased from Arapiles Mountain Books, Castlemaine, Vic, Australia, in 2020.
This Australian edition is unknown to APG. Uknown are the date of publication and the first print run.
This edition diverges by the first English edition in that: endpapers are brick red; copyright page reads: “Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press Pty Ltd, Netley”; dustjacket doesn’t show any price; the last praise by John Banville ends with the words: “He is unique in contemporary writing” which are omitted on the first English trade edition dustjacket.The book was published to coincide with the release of the movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbinder, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem. After a preview in London on October, 3, it premiered October, 25 in the United States and November, 15 in the United Kingdom.
COLLECTING TOPICS: copies of the Australian first edition are much scarcer than those of the first English one. No copies at auction are listed by Rare Book Hub. As for signed or inscribed copies, they must be rare if they even exist. I have never seen one.
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