Ex-libris

1968 · 71258 — New York: Random House 1968. First edition first printing. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Signed by Cormac McCarthy in black ink on the half-title page.<br /> <br /> 242 pp. Octavo 21 cm. Publisher's turquoise cloth and grey paper-covered boards stamped in black silver blue. Publisher's black topstain. Black dust jacket with white green and orange typography designed by Muriel Nasser. First printing statement on the copyright page. Dust jacket is price-clipped and has the "9/68" code at the front flap’s bottom-right.<br /> <br /> A Near Fine unread copy clean and square. The black topstain is lightly faded. The price-clipped dust jacket is Very Good with just a tiny closed tear measuring less than 1cm at the bottom edge of the front panel and one very small dark stain on the spine. A nice copy. Signed by the notoriously reclusive author. From the library of the late Santa Fe bookseller Nicholas Potter. Throughout a friendship spanning forty years Potter’s bookstore served as a frequent destination for McCarthy where the two shared a rapport rooted in their mutual appreciation of literature art music and history. This volume represents a vital fragment of that connection.<br /> <br /> The first printing of Outer Dark consisted of a run of 5000 copies and was the only printing of the first edition of this work. The book was a commercial failure upon its release selling less than 3500 copies.<br /> <br /> Set in purgatorial turn-of-the-century Appalachia Outer Dark is McCarthy’s second novel distilling his Southern Gothic style which he would continue to explore in his two subsequent novels Child of God and Suttree. The narrative utilizes an archaic rhythmic prose to deliver a wandering tale—a harrowing meditation on nihilism. Its publication cemented McCarthy as a singular prophetic stylist distinguished from many of his more experimental postmodernist contemporaries through a mastery of the macabre and the mythic. Random House hardcover