No Country for Old Men, Photocopied Typescript of the Final Draft, the letter to John Holley.
No Country for Old Men, Photocopied Typescript of the Final Draft
No Country for Old Men, n.p., 2004. Contemporary photocopied draft of the final iteration of the typescript, 320 pages, printed on rectos only. Along the upper margin of the title leaf appear two notes in McCarthy’s hand (in photocopy): “Original” (upper left corner) and “Final Draft / Orig of 2 copies / Sent to NY June 10 04 / NO Corr’s” (upper right corner). Housed in an unmarked white copy box; additionally housed in a red handmade box.
Inscribed by McCarthy in thick black marker at the upper left corner of the text: “For John Holley / With much love / Cormac.”
Accompanied by a brief ALS from McCarthy to the recipient, undated but most likely composed in June 2004 and included with the typescript. Written in black pen on one half of a folded 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of white bond, it reads:
“John, Hope you like this yarn. I’ll be gone most of the second part of the summer but I’ll give you a call. All best / Cormac. (Please don’t tell anybody you have this, or have read it. Nobody has it but you and my editor. C.)”.
CONDITION: Text block near fine. White box very good or better. Letter with one vertical fold, mild handling; near fine.
PROVENANCE: Lanelle Holley, autographs dealer Stuart Lutz, book dealer Amir Naghib. Purchased from Naghib in 2024.
Issued on June 10, 2004; one of only two copies.
This is one of only two typescripts of the final draft known to exist, the other being held at the Wittliff Collection, Texas State University, San Marcos. It is also the only signed or inscribed copy.
For unknown reasons, it did not go to auction with the collection of Lanelle Holley—John’s wife and McCarthy’s close friend—but was instead consigned to Tennessee autograph dealer Stuart Lutz.
The typescript predates the first trade edition by thirteen months and the earliest proof by six months.
Another typescript surfaced on the market in 2010, sold by Rare Book Cellar for $898 and now in a private collection. That example consisted of 336 pages bound in a white ICM (International Creative Management) cover, McCarthy’s literary agency at the time. The text was probably arranged by Della Ulmbari (see 2004–2005 Correspondence, Box 80, Folder 1, The Cormac McCarthy Papers, Collection 091, Wittliff Collection, TSU). As such, it postdates the final draft typescript. It came from Eric Reid (formerly of ICM) of the William Morris/Endeavor Entertainment Agency in Beverly Hills. It shows numerous textual differences and variations in pagination; in some places, paragraphs originally separated in the manuscript were merged in the published text, and vice versa.
COLLECTING TOPICS: McCarthy’s typescripts are rare. This one—although in photocopy—is of exceptional scarcity. No copies have appeared at auction or been offered on the open market, and it is the only inscribed example known to exist. The only other inscribed typescripts I am aware of are those of Blood Meridian and The Stonemason, held in the Woolmer Collection of Cormac McCarthy, now at Texas State University, San Marcos.
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