McCarthy, Cormac (1979) ‘Suttree’, US uncorrected advance proof copy

Cormac McCarthy (1979) ‘Suttree‘, US uncorrected advance proofs, published by Random House.

Condition: a fine copy or very close to that as shown.

Provenance: From the Dr Philip Murray collection. Medical Doctor Philip Murray (1940-2019) from Sligo, Ireland was an avid reader of literary fiction and became a passionate collector of first edition books. He only collected what he also enjoyed reading. In 2011 he published his memoirs titled ‘Adventures of a Book Collector’ [Currach Press] where he recalls his collecting career spanning over four decades. In his memoirs he dedicates four pages to Cormac McCarthy (pp 120-24) and one photographic plate which depicts Murray and McCarthy arm in arm in Sligo in 2004. Murray relates that he wrote to Cormac in 1990 before McCarthy hit fame with his Border trilogy. McCarthy agreed to sign and return his books and over the years they maintained correspondence with the highlight being McCarthy’s visit in Sligo in 2004. Murray embarked on a complete author collection of McCarthy. In the summer of 2016 his vast collection of over 2,000 books was sold in Dublin at auction fetching over EUR 275,000. However, it speaks volumes that Murray could not bring himself to part with his McCarthy collection back in 2016 but kept it until he died. Too strong his love for the work of the author.

‘Suttree’ is Cormac’s fourth novel. As with his previous novels the initial print run of a few thousand copies did not sell well, and McCarthy remained an ‘author’s author’ until his breakthrough novel ‘All the Pretty Horses in 1992 changed all that and McCArthy has be re-discovered and applauded as the greatest living American writer.