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The sources for publication date and first printing run are the publisher’s files. 

Cormac McCarthy novels landed in Italy later than in other European countries like England and France. Actually, in 1965, Elio Vittorini, then one of the most authoritative editorial advisors for the prominent publishing house Mondadori, read ‘The Orchard Keeper’ and suggested to refuse publication. He noted: “A discreet novel of nature and characters somewhat Faulknerian… All constructed, therefore, on books, even if very carefully chosen books. I could say that one could also take it, but then, in five years, we would end up discarding it during the review process because it indeed lacks autonomous life and necessity. I would prefer to discard it right now”. Vittorini’s opinion turned out to be deeply wrong and could be objected by saying that the thing is that “books are made of books” as McCarthy told to Richard Woodward. Oreste Del Buono, another Mondadori editorial consultant, did. He had the text in his hands in June 1966, after Vittorini had passed away, and provided a very different judgement: “This novel has already been discarded, with Vittorini’s objections still valid. It is, however, a good book, and exploiting previous literature does not seem like a great harm. In this sense, I dare to hypothesize: if one wants to elevate the level of the Rapidi series, could it not be considered for that platform?”. Unfortunately the editorial board rejected his advice and the book would be published only twenty-seven years later (see ”Cormac McCarthy raccontato da Raul Montanari: vi spiego perché è un gigante della letteratura mondiale” in fanpage.it, June 14, 2023). Italian readers had to wait for the huge success of All the Pretty Horses in 1992 to have a novel by McCarthy translated into their language. For a term of comparison bear in mind that the first French translation of The Orchard Keeper was published by Robert Laffont in 1968, just two years after the first American edition.

COLLECTING TOPICS: Italian first editions are obviously cheaper than American or English ones and rarely go to auction. In spite of that, copies of this one are becoming uncommon. Between December 2023 and June 2024, two of them sold for €40-50.