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>