Three weeks ago Texas State University’s Wittliff Collections announced that it had expanded its archives dedicated to Cormac McCarthy, adding 36 banker’s boxes filled with his personal journals, photos, letters, and drafts of unpublished novels, coming from the McCarthy’s estate. Now, another key achievement is close to being completed: the university and Anne De Lisle are close to reaching an agreement for the letters that McCarthy wrote to his second wife. There is a strong chance that they will be housed in the Wittliff collection soon.

Although the letters are largely unknown, they are certainly of huge interest. DeLisle, through her agent, the McCarthy scholar Bryan Giemza, had many of her McCarthy’s books and photographs auctioned by Bonhams back in April. Among them there was an inscribed copy of Blood Meridian and a copy of Child of God with a moving inscription dating to the time McCarthy left Anne “To my lovely Annie / With admiration and love / and thanks for your help. You deserved / so much better than / I ever gave you & / you will always be the love of my life. / Cormac.”

It was clear, though, that other material, including the letters, with even greater interest, would eventually be sold to institutions. Now, they will be, as is only fitting.