Truth to Power

After 5 million words, Cormac McCarthy gets a new typewriter

Cormac McCarthy to part with trusty typewriter

US author Cormac McCarthy is selling the trusty old typewriter he has used to type all of his books.

The worn-out 1958 portable Olivetti machine is expected to fetch up to $20,000 (£13,200) when it is sold at auction in New York this week.

The 76-year-old author of No Country for Old Men bought the typewriter for $50 (£30) from a pawnshop in 1963.

But the Pulitzer Prize winner will not embrace computers – his friend found a replacement Olivetti for $11 (£6.50).

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Santa Fe Institute, a scientific research centre in New Mexico, where McCarthy lives.

A blue carrying case and the author’s letter of authentication will be included in the sale.

In the letter, McCarthy states that he “typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not yet published. Including all drafts and correspondence, I would put this at about five million words over a period of 50 years”. </em>


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