The Orchard Keeper, first paperback edition
Ballantine Books, New York, 1969.
First paperback edition, first (and only) printing with “First printing: May 1969” on the copyright page. Softcover, 17,6 x 10,4 cm., 198 numbered pages. White pictorial wrappers lettered in black and brown, all text block edges stained in dark orange. Price of “75 c” on the front cover along the joint. Praise by Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chicago Tribune Books Today, Chicago Daily News, Ralph Ellison, Robert Penn Warren, Saturday Review on the back cover.
Inscribed by McCarthy on the title page in black ink and in an early hand: “For Tim + Edythe / Mac”. And signed again “Cormac McCarthy” under the title.
(Unrecorded in AGP).
CONDITION: Very good.
Published on May, 1969 at 75c. in an unknown print run.
In a letter to his editor at Random House Albert Erskine on December, 1964, McCarthy explains he has several nicknames: “Some of my friends call me Mac, others Chuck or Charlie. My family calls me Doc”. Moreover, many of the letters by McCarthy to Albert Erskine held at the Virginia University are signed this way (Erskine papers).
RECIPIENTS: inscribed to William Timothy “Tim” Burdine and his wife Edythe Tarwater, along with a paperback first edition of Outer Dark. The Burdines used to live on Route 1, Rockford. From 1968 to the end of 1970 were neighbors of Cormac McCarthy and Bill Kidwell, another writer’s friend. Tim had been working as an employee at Alcoa. They were apparently culturally perceptive people. Wesley Morgan let me know that both of them, along other 30 members of the Sunshine Group, a South Knox County senior citizens organization, contributed to a collective book titled “Sunshine memories” and dealing with episodes of their past. Tim passed away in June, 1987, at age of 81. Edythe lived longer, until 1996, when she passed away at age of 85.
As Outer dark first paperback edition was published by Ballantine books in late 1970, the book was inscribed most probably then. Signatures and inscriptions are in a very early hand indeed.
COLLECTING TOPICS: I have seen a handful of copies signed or inscribed over the years. Between July, 2023 and May, 2024 only one other copy, flat signed, was offered on the web at $ 5,000.
Rare Book Hub mentions only this copy at auction.
Scarce signed. Copies inscribed to known people and in a such early hand are much more so.
Discover more from The MCCARTHYIST
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
4 Responses
Why would Mr. McCarthy’s family have called him “Doc”?
Hello, I am not sure. I guess that it could be because he was seen as the most “literate” among the McCarthy family dudes. It is just a speculation though. The fact is that he tells that in an autographed letter to his editor Albert Erskine and there are no reasons to doubt about it.
Yes, I thought as much myself (called “Doc” because, as a writer, he was viewed by other members of his family as smart), but agree, no reason to doubt the authenticity of it. I enjoy your posts!
Thanks a lot. Have a great day, Umberto