The Crossing, Early Uncorrected Proof, First State
Knopf, New York, 1993–1994
Early uncorrected proof of the first edition. Softcover, 28 x 21.5 cm, 556 numbered pages printed on both sides, consisting of a photocopy of the revised typescript bound with a white printed cardboard front cover and a black adhesive card spine. It should be noted that there is a gap in the pagination. Pages 1 to 162 are numbered in handwriting. The next page is numbered “174,” and it, as well as all subsequent pages through 556, is numbered in print. There is no loss of text, however. A handwritten note appears on page 285 reading: “Pagination is off. This is 290.”
The front cover gives the title The Crossing and lists two publication dates, “Spring 1994” and “May 1994,” with a price of “$23.00 FPT (Can: $30.00),” “384” pages, and a first printing of 150,000 copies. The verso of the front cover identifies the book as “Untitled McCarthy” and features a key listing the number of copies sold of McCarthy’s previous books (APG, 007a).
Inscribed in blue ballpoint pen by McCarthy on the front cover to his friend and collector Philip Murray: “For Philip Murray / From Cormac McCarthy / Sligo 2004” (FM lot 740).
CONDITION: an about very good copy.
PROVENANCE: From the Philip Murray Collection. Purchased from First and Fine in 2020.
Issued between the last months of 1993 and March 1994 in approximately 50–200 copies.
This is the earliest proof for this title and was intended for distribution to the sales force. It was issued before March 21, 1994, as a second and later issue of the proof was already available by that time.
Howard Woolmer, in his notes for a McCarthy bibliography, writes that Knopf had around two hundred sales representatives at the time and suggests that each would have received a copy, implying that about 200 copies must have been produced. However, Gary Fisketjon, the book’s editor at Knopf, agreed that each representative would have received a copy but told me: “We had maybe 20 reps in all for independent booksellers, with another dozen or so handling larger accounts, including chain stores and other distributors. So maybe 50 copies were issued”.
COLLECTING TOPICS: Unsigned copies of this proof are uncommon. Around 2010, nice copies could be found in the $150–200 range. By 2025 they had become scarcer, with collector-condition copies priced at $600–800. Signed or inscribed copies are definitely rare. I have seen only one other example. It was flat-signed and offered by the bookseller Matt Adjani of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, in 2011. The signature appeared genuine, although it lacked strong provenance. I purchased it for $1,200 and later resold it to an American collector.
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