CHILD OF GOD - INSCRIBED
New York: Random House, 1973. First Edition. Item #8095
First Printing, one of 7,500 copies. Octavo (21.5cm); red paper-covered boards and navy blue cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and authors initials blind-stamped on front cover; dustjacket; [vi],[2],3-197,[5]pp. Inscribed by the author in an early hand on the title page: "For Ernest Cunningham / All best wishes / Cormac McCarthy." Two small, very faint lines of offsetting on front pastedown, else a fresh, Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $5.95), with a 1cm closed tear at base of spine panel; very Near Fine, absent both the usual heavy surface wear and fading to the sensitive red titling on spine. Housed in a custom felt-lined half-morocco clamshell case.
McCarthy's third novel, the story of murderer and necrophile Lester Ballard – an outcast from his small Appalachian community, living among the decomposing bodies of his victims in the mountains and in an underground cave. The book was not a commercial success for Random House; it sold just 2,415 copies of its only printing prior to being remaindered. Basis for James Franco's 2013 film, starring Scott Haze and Tim Blake Nelson.
Price: $7,500.00