Five letters by Cormac McCarthy to the writer and traveller, Lawrence Millman, dating from 1981 to 1983, are set to be offered for sale by the English book dealer Alexander Wochnik of First and Fine (https://www.firstandfine.com/).

The small archive, one typed letter signed and four handwritten, signed letters, is uncomplete as it lacks at least one of the letters by McCarthy postdated March, 1981, which is offered separately by Books 4 Ewe (https://www.abebooks.it/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=32019984086). Despite this, the collection is of significant interest, as the letters date back to when McCarthy was working on Blood Meridian.

In one letter, McCarthy expresses his frustration with the “Yankee press,” commenting on coverage of a motel shooting in which a policeman killed a couple on their honeymoon:

“I’d just like to say that the kind of nitpicking criticism it received in the yankitized press is just what we down here dont need. Sure, the guy made a nmistake. What the yankee press failed to mention – in every account – was that he said he was sorry. Not only that, but he expressed his willingness to make restitution in any reasonable & mutually agreeable fashion to the families of both of the dead people. No mention of that. Oh no. And sure the couple that were mistakenly gunned down were on their honeymoon. So what? Does that make it worse? Was he supposed to know that? Big play in the DY press about that little fact all right. Jesus, Larry, are people not entitled to mistakes any more? You’d think he’d done the whole thing deliberately. And the damn bellboy should have been fined – at least twice that he was fined, in my opinion. I think maybe even fifty dollars might not have been too severe. It was damn careless of him & he should be taught a lesson.  Anyway, we sure as hell don’t need a bunch of damn Yankee nitpickers jumping up and down & chortling over what they see as decadence of the old southwest. As far as I am concerned those folks had better on to their own cucumber patch. Anyway, I’m glad to get this off of my chest. It needed to be said & I’ve said it” .

The letters have strong provenance as they were part of the Philip Murray collection of Cormac McCarthy, which was auctioned in Dublin by Fonsie Mealy in December, 2019.

The asking price is expected to be around £30,000.