Suttree, uncorrected proof
Random House, New York, 1978
Uncorrected proof of the first edition. Softcover, 21 x 13,6 cm., 470 numbered pages. Red wrappers lettered in black on the front panel which reads: “Uncorrected Proofs”. White paper label taped to the front cover, as often found in the Random House proofs, with “Advance Proofs [Uncorrected]”, Random House imprint and logo printed on it, price of “$10.95” and “February [space], 1979” as date of publication typed on. Laid in is a typed letter on Random House letterhead signed by Cheryl Merser, publicity manager, addressed to “Dear Reviewer”, announcing the publication of Suttree for February 5, 1979 and quoting reviews of the first three McCarthy’s novels by Ralph Ellison, Robert Coles and Anatole Broyard. Housed in a blue cloth and leather handmade clamshell box lettered in gilt.
(APG 004a).
Inscribed in black ballpoint pen by McCarthy on the title page in a contemporary hand: “For Burt / All the Best / Cormac McCarthy”.
CONDITION: near fine.
PROVENANCE: this copy comes from the collection of I.D. “Nash” Flores III sold at Heritage in 2014, as part of a lot including ten McCarthy proofs other than this.
Issued in September, 1978, only 22 copies printed.
Twenty-one or twenty-two of this bound galleys were sent out to reviewers on September 12, 1978 (RH, 1611). The number was almost double of bound proofs sent out for Child of God in September, 1973. Random House papers don’t mention earlier galleys sent out for this title and the only known typescript and early drafts are in the Wittliff Collection at the Texas State University, San Marcos, so this is the earliest format of the complete book to surface on the market so far.
STATES: the proof is known to exist in two states, one without and another with a publisher’s slip taped to the front cover.
RECIPIENT: the book is most likely inscribed to Burt Britton. Although there are no direct evidence of that, in the Random House archive or elsewhere, in a letter to Cheryl Merser undated but datable to December 1978, McCarthy writes: “Also you might send several copies to Burt Britton at Books & Co. as he is also a great supporter and will generate whatever response he can”. Additionally, in the first months of 1979, just after Suttree was published on February 5, McCarthy paid a visit to Britton at Books & Co. in New York. He met a fan there, Dan Frueh, and inscribed a first edition copy of the new novel to him. This inscription and that in the proof to Britton are very similar, so they both could have been done during that same visit.
NOTABLE COPIES: GONZALES COPY. A near fine copy, inscribed in a later hand to McCarthy’s biographer and friend Laurence Gonzales, is part of his private collection.
COLLECTING TOPICS: even unsigned copies of this proof are, obviously, very scarce. The proof entered into the modern firsts market very soon. A copy was listed at $45 at the end of 1978, indeed, before the first trade edition publication, in the important catalogue “American Fiction of the 1960s” issued by Peter B. Howard, Serendipity Books owner. Since then, in the last forty-five years, only a handful of copies have been offered on the market. Only two were auctioned, including this one. Another couple were offered by book dealers. One of them was listed by Ken Lopez in his Catalog 131 (March, 2004) at $ 3,000. Ken described it as “a very uncommon proof; this is the first copy we’ve handled”. Another copy, listed by Captain Ahab’s Rare Books in 2020 at $5,000 eventually sold for $4,000. An equally unsigned copy is in the Woolmer Collection held at Texas State University, San Marcos. No copies were offered on the market, as far as I know, between 2020 and September, 2024.
Signed or inscribed copies are definitely rare. I am aware of just this one and Gonzales copy mentioned above. All the public and private collections I checked lack it.
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