The letter reads in full:

Dear Bill

Thanks for the pitcher. It is very interesting. The figures in the foreground seem definitely marine, with various somatic affinities to arthropods and molluscs. Tell us something about the moonlike countenance in the dominant center with the labial eyefents.

Enclosed is the book and I hope you like it. Tell us is [sic] you do. If you dont, dont [sic] tell anybody. Harold and Pat Ailor were here both before and after their west coast junket and we had a little get together. Annie and I would both like to make it out to the coast to spend a little time, but right now there is an immense dearth of bread. However, we will see what time brings.

Best to the both of ye’ns. Looking foreward [sic] to our watercolor.

Charlie

Cormac McCarthy
Rockford, Tenn. 37853

An early letter—one of only two I have ever seen signed by McCarthy with his given name “Charlie,” already changed to Cormac. However, there is also a postcard to Jim Long from Paris, postmarked “10-XI-65,” signed the same way and held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Although undated, this letter can be attributed to October 1968: it enclosed a copy of Outer Dark, published on September 25, and it predates another known letter to Kidwell postmarked “Nov 6 1968.”

Among the letter’s points of interest is McCarthy’s candid admission of the “immense dearth of bread” he and his wife Anne DeLisle were experiencing.

As for the Ailors, I owe some key information to Wesley Morgan: they were part of McCarthy’s social circle in the Knoxville area and often hosted gatherings at their home. Harold J. Ailor attended Central High School, Class of 1954, alongside classmate Bill Kidwell. He then attended the University of Tennessee from 1954 to 1957, according to the UT Student Directories. He married Patricia Salenger. Pat Hardin (also a friend of John Sheddan) recalls arriving late to a get-together at the Ailors’ home one evening, just as Cormac was leaving precipitously for the West with Eve Zimmermann. This came as a surprise to those present, and Cormac seemed captivated by her. Patricia died in 2018 at the age of 78. Harold passed away in 2023, at the age of 85.

RECIPIENT: Bill Kidwell, longtime friend of McCarthy and a talented amateur painter.

COLLECTING TOPICS: Heritage Auctions describes letters signed “Charlie” as extremely rare. In fact, this is one of only two in private hands that I am aware of.