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McCarthy wrote to Orin Borsten, in a letter postmarked November 19, 1984: “Albert Erskine I think may be planning to have some review (advance) copies put together – sort of a plain brown wrapper edition – and if this project materializes I’ll get one of these to you ahead of the normal review copies”. The first review of Blood Meridian was published by Publishers Weekly Review on January 18, 1985 (Erskine papers). Since copies of the first edition were already available on, or shortly before, January 24, 1985 (see the letter by Martha K. Levin, Subsidiary Rights Manager at Random House, to Megan Rattner at Ecco Press, including a copy, Ecco Press B32, F13), PWR most likely worked with one of the proof copies. Therefore, the proofs were likely available and distributed between late November 1984 and early January 1985.

I was not able to uncover the exact number of copies printed as there is no such information either in the Erskine papers or in the Random House archive. Surprisingly, the latter lacks a folder related to Blood Meridian’s publication. However, many folders remain uncatalogued, so deeper research in the archive held at Columbia University Library might prove fruitful.

A comparison between copies sold at auction of Blood Meridian proof and copies sold at auction of Child of God and Suttree proofs, suggests that this proof has been issued in a larger run than the other two (respectively 12 and 22 copies). 

STATES: there are two states of this proof, one without and one with the publisher’s paper label affixed to the front cover, noting the publication date as March 1985. Priority has not been determined.

Copies with a publisher’s promotional letter laid in have been noted.

TYPESCRIPTS: a typescript preceding the proof is part of the Woolmer collection. It is a Xerox copy consisting in 451 pages + epilogue, printed only on the recto. It is inscribed on the title page to Howard Woolmer: “For Howard with All the / Best Wishes / Cormac McCarthy”. It was sent to Woolmer by Harold Ober Associates at McCarthy’s request. Woolmer received it in January 1985. 

FORGERIES: forged copies of this proof are known to exist. Recently, a collector and dealer listed one of them, in the first state, online. When informed it was a fake, the listing was promptly withdrawn, demonstrating the dealer’s good faith. Later, the dealer shared with me a photo of the three copies in his collection. Only one of them was genuine.These copies were discussed in the important essay about McCarthy forgeries by Scott Brown (https://downtownbrown.substack.com/p/cormac-mccarthys-early-proofs-real-and-fake).

COLLECTING TOPICS: despite copies of this proof are less scarce than those of Child of God and Suttree, even unsigned copies have always been uncommon. Rare Book Hub lists only four copies at auction. Since McCarthy’s death, these proofs have become even harder to find: no copies were offered online between December 2023 and December 2024.

As for signed or inscribed copies, they are truly rare, a “holy grail” for McCarthy collectors. Besides this one, I know of only two other such copies. One is part of the Laurence Gonzales collection; it is in better condition but is inscribed in a later hand. The other copy, offered by Raptis Rare Books years ago, was merely signed. While the signature appeared genuine, no strong provenance was provided.