Cities of the Plain, Trice limited edition, deluxe issue.
B. E. Trice, New Orleans, 1998.
First Trice edition, only printing. Deluxe issue, number 49 out of 50 copies. Hardcover, 22,8 x 15,6 cm, 291 numbered pages. Publisher’s pale salmon and maroon marbled paper boards, brown quarter-leather spine and board tips, raised bands on spine with gilt lettering, and dark brown end papers. Publisher’s full cloth slipcase featuring the author’s signature printed in gilt. Without dustjacket as issued.
Signed and numbered by the author on the colophon page.
CONDITION: still in shrink-wrap, as new.
PROVENANCE: purchased from Between the cover in 2009, for $570. The very low price resulted from a mistake: the book was listed as one of 1000 copies of the Knopf limited edition. I tried to inform them about the error, but as they seemed uninterested, I was more than happy to refrain from insisting and I acquired the book at the listed price.
Published in October 1998, for $375, in a print run of 50 copies.
This beautiful issue is preceded by the Knopf first trade and limited edition published in May 1998. The limited editions of McCarthy’s books published by Trice, Cities of the Plain and No Country for Old Men, have a peculiar history. In an email dated November 21, 2023, Britton Trice told me that the publication of both was delayed by hurricanes. The publication of Cities of the Plain was initially announced for May 1998, but it was delayed until September due to fabrication issues. It was then postponed again due to Hurricane Georges, which struck New Orleans.
This deluxe issue has the smallest limitation of all the Trice limited editions of McCarthy’s works. There are only two smaller limitations among all the McCarthy titles, being the lettered issues of the Suntup limited editions of Blood Meridian and The Road, each limited to just 26 copies. Trice also published a numbered issue of Cities of the Plain, produced in 300 copies.
THE PUBLISHER: Britton Trice started Garden District Book Store in 1992. It quickly became one of the most successful stores in New Orleans area. Formerly the Maple Street Book Shop in the Rink, Trice changed the name to Garden District and expanded the 400-square-foot store to 2,500 square feet. The store’s well-received signing events have not only increased the number of signed editions available on the store’s shelves but helped Trice meet authors he later published. Trice’s first limited edition was issued in 1994 and it was New Orleans famed author Anne Rice’s “Taltos”.
PRESENTATION COPIES: a deluxe personalized copy stating “Cormac McCarthy’s copy” on the colophon page was issued and given to the author. A few copies, most probably less than five, were issued for the publisher and marked as “Presentation copy” on the colophon page. As far as I know none of these copies has appeared in the market. They are obviously rare. There also were 24 to 28 presentation copies of the numbered issue.
COLLECTING TOPICS: given the small limitation, this issue is uncommon. However, it is less priced and sought after than the twin Trice deluxe issue of No Country for Old Men. Rare Book Hub lists five copies at auction. As of December 2024, Abebooks lists six copies priced between $3,250 and $4,250. None of them is still shrink-wrapped. Shrink-wrapped copies have become especially scarce in recent years.
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