All the Pretty Horses

Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has also written plays and screenplays. This novel, All The Pretty Horses, won the National Book Award in 1992. The story reads like a Western novel, but is set in 1949 and revolves around the life of a 16-year old Texan named John Grady Cole. After his parent’s marriage ends, he finds himself at the end of a long line of ranchers, without a family ranch to work. So he sets out for Mexico on horseback with two companions. By turns both comic and tragic, the elaborate character development and McCarthy’s superb descriptive style make this book a rare treat.

All the Pretty Horses is the first volume in the Border Trilogy. The other two volumes are The Crossing and Cities of the Plain.

First edition published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1992.  Original black cloth-backed black boards, spine lettered in silver, author's initials to front cover in silver, fore edge untrimmed. First Edition is stated on the copyright page. The dust jacket carries a $21.00 price on the upper corner of the front flap. There is a variant dust jacket (which is rare) where the text begins with a black letter "A" on the front flap rather than a green "A" which is typically found on most first editions. The variant dust jacket also has four reviews on the back panel rather than the five reviews typically found on most first editions.

There was also a special advance reading copy that was signed by McCarthy. This advance copy is a softcover issued in a slipcase.