Some months ago, Peyton Gupton, a collector from Knoxville, sent me photos of a first edition of Suttree gorgeously inscribed by McCarthy to his friend Jim Long. The book had been acquired by the University of Tennessee in November, 2023 from Jim Long’s widow, Elaine. The inscription is one of the best I have ever seen and plays on the year McCarthy and Long first met and on the title of Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” published in the same year: “For Jim Long / without whose friendship / this book would not exist. / All best to you, old friend, / from 1940 till the bell rings. / Much love / Cormac”.  

Long was one of McCarthy’s closest childhood friends: they both attended St. Mary’s Parochial School and Knoxville Catholic High School. Long introduced McCarthy to many of the characters and colorful places portrayed in Suttree and appears himself in the novel as J-Bone. They remained close friends until Long’s passing in 2012. Elaine Long, who was a bartender in Knoxville, had kept the copy of Suttree under the counter for years to show it to bar patrons. So, it was amazing that it even survived. 

Since the time I saw the photos of that astonishing copy of Suttree I had been wondering if other books inscribed to Long exist and where they might be. My friend Wesley Morgan directed me to Lisa Misosky, a kind and clever book dealer who runs Southland Books in Maryville. She confirmed that she was the appraiser for the copy of Suttree as well as some photos, letters and postcards acquired by the University of Tennessee. Additionally, she told me that the batch of inscribed books owned by Elaine Long had been purchased by a single collector who was also a customer of her bookshop. 

That was all I could uncover about it, until a few weeks ago, when I got back in touch with Charles Wayne Melvin, a collector who was interested in a first English edition of The Road signed by McCarthy on a bookplate, I was selling. Talking with him, it came up that his collection of McCarthy includes around 140 primary items and more than 100 pieces of literary criticism about the author of Blood Meridian. Moreover, the core of this amazing collection is comprised of copies of almost all the main works by McCarthy inscribed to Jim Long. Yes, the lucky collector was him. 

Charles, almost 72 years old, is a physician who, a couple of years ago, was considering retirement but changed his mind because it would have curtailed his McCarthy collecting. That says enough about his gentle madness. He tells: “I started collecting books while in middle school and have amassed large collections and sold them over the years.  As a matter of fact, I partially paid for college and med school by buying and selling books. I’m still an avid collector of not only McCarthy but also Anne Rice, Larry McMurtry, Annie Proulx, Barbar Kingsolver and others.  I still sell books too and mostly fund my collecting of other authors by selling books”.

He first “discovered” McCarthy when most of the world did, in 1992 with the publication of All the Pretty Horses. He bought all the new McCarthy books as they came out but didn’t become a serious collector until around 2015 with the purchase of a few signed copies. But it was in 2019 that “I became an obsessive McCarthy collector and started buying proofs, special editions, and ephemera as well as McCarthy criticism”.

The big “step up” came a couple of years ago when his good friend, Lisa Misosky, offered him the Jim Long collection which she was brokering for the Jim Long estate. It includes most of McCarthy’s books published prior to 2009, ten inscribed first editions: two copies of Outer Dark, Child of God, Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of The Plain, Everyman’s edition of The Border Trilogy, The Stonemason, No Country for Old Men. The exceptions are, of course, The Road, Suttree which, as already noted, was purchased by The University of Tennessee and The Orchard Keeper, which the Longs curiously (and tragically) loaned out and never got back. Beside the Long’s books, the collection houses many of the first English editions, an important batch of paperback editions, and interesting and scarce ephemera.

Of particular interest is the copy of Blood Meridian which bears one of the best inscription I have ever seen (“For Jim Long For Forty Five Years of Friendship, All the best from your buddy Cormac”). Also notable is the very special signed copy of All the Pretty Horses which is accompanied by a handwritten paper sheet: “James, I was going to write you a note but if I wait till I can find the time to do it I’ll never end this stuff, it was good to talk to you on the phone. The enclosed book is the first copy I have received and I thought I’d send it to you. All the best, your friend Cormac”.

Charles explains: “It was by far the most I’d ever paid for books and I agonized over the decision for several months before going through with the purchase. Now, of course, I’m glad I did”. I bet he is.