The Road, early uncorrected proof, second issue
Knopf, New York, 2006
Early uncorrected proof of the first edition, second issue. Softcover, 28 x 21.8 cm, 241 pages numbered only on the recto, consisting in the photocopies of the proof pages bound with a clear plastic front cover, a black plastic back cover and a black tape spine. The first page features a photocopy of the first edition dustjacket front cover, in black and grey. The date of the proof’s printing appears in the fax string at the top margin of pages, reading “7/14/06”.
CONDITION: a nice, near fine copy.
PROVENANCE: purchased from the American collector Karl Monger in 2010.
Issued in July 2006, in an unknown number of copies.
This issue was preceded by the first one — issued in two states — by approximately three months and predates the publication of the first trade edition by about two months. It differs significantly from the first issue: it was produced from the proof pages rather than the computer-generated typescript, features different pagination, includes a reproduction of the dust jacket, half-title and title pages, a dedication to John Francis McCarthy, a copyright page, and other elements. However, it lacks the information page as well as any details about the first trade edition’s publication date or its first printing run. Its intended purpose remains unclear.
The proof’s issue date is inferred from the fax string at the top of the pages. The exact number of copies printed and distributed remains unknown, as I have not been able to access Knopf’s archive.
COLLECTING TOPICS: This second state was apparently more common than the first. However, it has become increasingly scarce.
A copy was listed by the dealer Ken Lopez in his catalog 143 (November 2006), and again in his catalog 152 (October 2009) at $1,500. The description reads: “A very scarce issue; only a handful of these have turned up, to the best of our knowledge; this is the only copy we have seen”.
In 2018, a copy from the Murray Collection sold at Fonsie Mealy (FM, lot 740). It was relisted in July 2021 by Amir Naghib at Captain Ahab’s Rare Books for $1,850. It eventually sold for approximately $1,600.
In 2021, First and Fine offered a copy, which sold for $760.
To my knowledge, no copies have been offered on Abebooks between May 2023 and January 2025.
Rare Books Hub lists only two copies at auction: the Murray copy, and another sold at Heritage in 2014, from the collection of I.D. “Nash” Flores III.
I have never seen a signed or inscribed copy.
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