Outer dark, first English edition
André Deutsch, London, 1970
First English edition, first and only printing with “First Published 1970” on the copyright page. Hardcover, 20,5 x 13,5 cm., 238 numbered pages. Publisher’s black paper-covered, lettered in silver on the spine. Two-tone blue dust jacket by Michael Heawood, lettered in white with price of “£ 1.80p net UK only” and “36s” on the front flap. The back panel shows a blue tinted photo of McCarthy by Joe Blackwell. It is the same photo used by both Random House and Deutsch for The Orchard Keeper dustjacket. Below the photo, there is a note about the author which mistakenly lists McCarthy’s birth year as 1937 instead of 1933.
(APG 002c; FM, lot 716)
Inscribed in black ballpoint pen by McCarthy on the title page to his friend and collector Philip Murray: “For Philip / All Best Wishes / Cormac McCarthy / Sligo 2004”. Housed in a blue cloth and leather handmade clamshell box lettered in gilt.
CONDITION: about very good in an about very good dustjacket.
Published on August, 1970, at £1.80, in an unknown print run.
The Outer Dark folder in the Deutsch archive held at the University of Tulsa doesn’t provide information about the date of publication and the first print run. August, 1970 as the date of publication is mentioned in the first American edition copy used as an advance copy by the English publisher.
The negotiation with Deutsch for the United Kingdom rights faced some problems in the summer of 1968, so the book was sent to MacMillan as well. By the end of August difficulties were left behind, and the contract was signed (Erskine Papers).
RECIPIENT: This copy comes from the Philip Murray’s collection. Murray was an Irish doctor and passionate book collector. He often wrote to authors asking them to sign his books. In this way, he amassed an impressive collection of modern first editions and got in touch with many Irish, English, and American poets and novelists. Cormac McCarthy was one of them, becoming his friend and paying a visit to him in Sligo, Ireland, on 2004. In the summer of 2016 Murray’s vast collection of over 2,000 books was sold in Dublin by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers. Murray’s McCarthy books were kept until he passed away and were auctioned in 2019. You can read more about Murray in Collecting McCarthy, a Brief History.
PROVENANCE: from the Murray collection. Purchased from First and Fine, book dealer in Birmingham, in 2020.
PAPERBACK EDITION: On April 8, 1994, Picador published the first English paperback edition priced at £5.99 with a first printing of 10,000 copies of which 9,600 were delivered (PS and WP).
COLLECTING TOPICS: this is, in my experience, one of the rarest among McCarthy novels, both in American and English editions, to be found signed or inscribed along with the English firsts of The Orchard Keeper and Suttree. The exception is, of course, the first American edition of The Road at least until the 250 copies signed and left by the author to his son John are available for sale.
Rare Book Hub lists just this copy at auction. Additionally, I am aware of only another copy in existence, flat signed, which is part of a private English collection.
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