A travel through a McCarthy first editions collection

THE LITTLE KNOWN ADVANCE FORMAT OF THE PASSENGER BY CURZON-PICADOR

The “Picador-Curzon” advance reading copy issued on October, 2, 2022.

The Passenger, advance reading copy of the first English edition.

Curzon-Picador, London, 2022.

Advance reading copy of the first trade English edition. Softcover, 19,8 x 13 cm., 383 numbered pages (with numbers appearing only on odd-numbered pages) + 6 blank pages bound at the end. Brownish grey, red and yellow unglossy wrapper lettered in red, white and black. The front cover reads “Curzon” in white letter above the author’s name and the title in red. The top of the spine in black letters reads: “On Sale / October / 2022”. The back panel features a Daily Telegraph blurb, “25th October 2022” as date of publication and states this is an “Uncorrected proof – Not for resale or quotation”. 

CONDITION: a near fine copy.

PROVENANCE: purchased from the American dealer Christopher Subarton in 2023.

Issued on October 2, 2022, in 100 copies.


The date of distribution and the number of copies printed were provided by Emma Bravo, Communications Director at Pan Macmillan (which owns Picador): “The Curzon proofs were created by the Picador marketer as part of a partnership with Curzon cinema who hosted on October 2nd, 2022, a screening and q+a around No Country for Old Men. The screening was part of our early word of mouth marketing campaign and we created 100 co-branded proofs for the occasion. Attendees at the screening were given a free proof”. Curzon cinema is one of the oldest film houses in England. 

COLLECTING TOPICS: with its 100 copies only, this advance reading  edition is possibly the scarcest among all the advance formats issued for The Passenger, with the probable exception of the early proofs issued by Knopf. I have seen only another copy aside this one in the market. It was offered by Mark Warner of Marxandmarzapan, sold on January, 2024 for $500 and is now housed in the McCarthy collection of Paul Ford. Scarce.

The back panel and the spine.
The copyright page.


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