THE ORCHARD KEEPER & OUTER DARK - INSCRIBED TO TIM BURDINE & EDYTHE TARWATER
$6,500 · Offered by Biblio
First edition · Signed
New York: Ballantine Books, 1970. First Paperback Editions. First Printings. Two octavo volumes (17.75cm); original pictorial card wrappers; dark yellow edge-staining; [vi],[2],3-198,[4]; [vi],[2],3-215,[3]pp. Both volumes are identically inscribed by McCarthy in a contemporary hand on the title pages to William Timothy Burdine and his wife, Edythe Tarwater, using both his nickname, "Mac," as well as his full name: "For Tim + Edythe / Mac / Cormac McCarthy." Orchard Keeper shows some foxing to inner covers, light wear to extremities, some mild dust-soil to wrappers, and a small tear to base of spine; contents clean; Very Good+. Outer Dark has a slight forward lean, faint vertical crease at spine and left edge of front wrapper, light dust-soil to wrappers, with some scattered foxing to inner covers; Very Good. First paperback editions of McCarthy's first two novels the first set during the inter-War period within a small, isolated town in Eastern Tennessee, and the second set in Appalachia dark, brooding, incestuous, and violent. Both novels were published to great critical reviews, with The Orchard Keeper winning the Faulkner Foundation Award for Best First Novel of the Year. These copies constitute a seldom-seen pair of contemporary association copies: Burdine and his wife were friends with McCarthy, and from 1968-1970 neighbors with the author and their mutual friend, Bill Kidwell, in Rockford, Tennessee. While we have handled numerous inscribed books and presentation c
- Publisher: Ballantine Books
- Year: 1970
- Edition: First Edition
- Printing: first
- Binding: unknown
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