Outer Dark, first The Ecco Press edition
The Ecco Press, New York, 1984
First The Ecco Press edition, first and only printing with no mention of further printings on the copyright page. Softcover, 20.4 x 13.7 cm, 242 numbered pages. Publisher’s turquoise and yellow pictorial wrappers with black spine and white back panel, lettered in white, turquoise, and black, by Saksa Art & Design, Inc. Price of “$7.50” on the back panel.
Inscribed on the title page by McCarthy in blue ballpoint pen: “For Dale / All the best wishes / from your friend / Cormac”.
CONDITION: near fine and unread.
PROVENANCE: purchased from the collector Paul Ford in 2021.
Published in September 1984 at $7.50 in a first printing of 3,000 copies.
The publisher’s editorial fact sheet does not mention the date of publication (EP, B32, F16). However, as the contracts for Outer Dark and Child of God were signed simultaneously and the two books were simultaneously advertised in Antaeus, 53, Autumn 1984, it appears highly probable that the date of publication was September 1984 (EP, B32, F14). The number of copies printed is drawn from a note in pen by Dan Halpern on a letter from Howard Woolmer to him, dated January 17, 1994 (EP, B32, F12).
The license agreement for Outer Dark and Child of God dated November 30, 1983, and completed on January 9, 1984, stated an advance of $500 payable “upon signing hereof” and 7.5% as royalties.
Cormac McCarthy appreciated the book. In an undated letter (datable to late 1984 or early 1985) to Jennie McDonald at The Ecco Press, he reported he had received twenty copies of Child of God and ten of Outer Dark and requested ten more of the latter, as the books “are quite handsome” (EP B32, F16).
The Ecco Press edition is not the first paperback edition, being preceded by the Ballantine Books edition published in 1970.
RECIPIENT: the book is inscribed to the writer Dale Walker, writer and acquaintance of McCarthy in El Paso.
COLLECTING TOPICS: unsigned copies have become uncommon. As of January 2025 four copies were offered on Abebooks, priced from $250 and up. Signed or inscribed copies are decidedly scarce. The last one I recall surfacing on the market was offered by Captain Ahab’s Rare Books in their e-list 20, April 2017. It was flat signed and listed at $1,500. Rare Book Hub lists no copies, signed or unsigned, at auction.
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