All the Pretty Horses, early uncorrected proof
Knopf, New York, 1991
Early uncorrected proof of the first edition. Softcover, 28 x 21.7 cm, 298 numbered pages consisting of a photocopy of the first-pass pages in clear plastic front cover, black plastic back cover, and black spine. Even-numbered pages are numbered at the bottom in bold type and capital letters. A string at the top of the pages shows “Nov 12” and “Nov 13” as the date of the pages printing and sates “house/trade” as its intended use. The first page is a photocopied typed letter on grayish Knopf letterhead by Sonny Mehta, Knopf’s editor-in-chief, addressed to “Dear Bookseller”, dated November 20, 1991, in which Mehta praised the first volume of The Border Trilogy as “Cormac’s break-through in terms of a wide readership” and “an extraordinary event in American fiction”.
Inscribed in blue ballpoint pen by McCarthy on the title page to Philip Murray: “For Philip Murray /All best wishes / Cormac McCarthy / Sligo 2004”.
Laid in this copy, there is a letter on Random House letterhead by marketing director Carl Lennertz, seemingly addressed to “Dear Bookseller” and dated December 12, 1991.
CONDITION:near fine.
PROVENANCE: from the collection of Philip Murray, purchased from First and Fine, a bookseller in Birmingham, in 2020.
Issued on November 12-13, 1991, in reportedly fewer than 50 copies.
This proof is the earliest format of the book to be issued and sent out. It was produced on November 12 and 13, 1991, as shown by the string on the top of the pages. It was sent starting November 20, 1991 to booksellers, as first step in the large marketing campaign set for All the Pretty Horses.
Gary Fisketjon, McCarthy’s editor at Knopf, explained in an email dated February 18, 2024:
“We decided to make this special sort of galley once the novel was in first-pass galleys, which gave us something to share with key independent booksellers right away since we Xerox and bind them up ourselves, without waiting for a commercial printer. This was highly unusual, since our production schedule would provide “normal” bound galleys as quickly as possible. But we didn’t want to wait for that, and sent these 25 copies or so to bookseller friends whose great influence spread through independent stores across the country, so you could call this our first step in the book’s promotion”.
Copies were also noted in smoky grey plastic front cover, grey tape spine and grey cardboard back cover.
RECIPIENT: Philip Murray, Irish friend of McCarthy and collector. The book was inscribed while McCarthy was visiting Murray in Ireland in 2004.
COLLECTING TOPICS: examples of this early format have always been uncommon and they used to sell in a range of about $400 to $750. A nice copy sold in 2005 at Bonhams, for example, for $470. Rare Book Hub lists 5 copies, including this one, with all the others being unsigned, at auction. In the past two years, they have become increasingly scarce. There were three copies offered on the web in January, 2024, in a range between $2,000 and 2,500. As of March 2005, two copies were available: one in near fine condition, and described as “very rare”, at $2,500, and a second, well worn, offered at $1,000. An unsigned copy in remarkable condition is in the McCarthy collection of Howard Woolmer, held at the University of Texas, San Marcos.
Signed or inscribed copies are definitely rare. This is the only one I have come across and known to exist.
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