Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West.

First edition of the author's classic fifth novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the month of publication on the front free endpaper, "For John Sheddan At Saxon Oaks Manor In April of 1985 All the best, old friend Cormac." The recipient, John Sheddan was a close friend of McCarthy’s. “Some of McCarthy’s friends claim that the character Gene Harrogate (a character in McCarthy’s novel, Suttree), or at least his watermelon venture, was based in some way on John Sheddan, “scholar, schemer, hustler, melon paramour” (Gibson 23)….However in a letter of response to Gibson’s article, Knoxvillian Buzz Kelley writes that Sheddan was “probably McCarthy’s best and most loyal friend from the Knoxville crowd,” holder of two master’s degrees, and not at all “a violator of vegetables nor one to fornicate with fruits” (Dianne C. Luce, Reading the World: Cormac McCarthy’s Tennessee Period). Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light wear. Jacket design by Richard Adelson. Jacket painting by Salvador Dali. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Next to the dedication copy, this is the best association possible.