First Edition Set of Larry McMurtry's First Three Novels, Two Inscribed

Horseman, Pass By
New York: Harper & Brothers, (1961). First edition. 8vo. (vi), 179, (5) pp. Publisher's quarter yellow cloth over black paper-covered boards, stamped in blind and in black; cocked; in original illustrated dust-jacket designed by Alex Tsao, spine lightly faded, slight wear along extremities, rear wrapper lightly foxed; endpapers lightly foxed.

A handsome copy of McMurtry's first book.

Together with:

Leaving Cheyenne
New York, etc.: Harper & Row, Publishers, (1963). First edition. 8vo. (x), 298, (8) pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by McMurtry on front free endpaper to his English professor and Master's thesis advisor at Rice University, Carrol Camden and his family: "To the Camdens, / with the / author's fondest / regards. / Larry." Publisher's beige cloth-covered boards, stamped in red and in black; in original illustrated dust-jacket, $4.95 price sticker over printed price, spine lightly faded, scattered light edge-wear.

Presentation copy of McMurtry's second book, inscribed to his former English professor and Master's thesis advisor At Rice University, Carroll Camden. Camden was a career professor at Rice for 43 years, from 1930-73, teaching English and serving as head of the English department. A scholar of Renaissance literature, he published nine books and numerous articles in his lifetime, on Shakespeare, Marlowe, Chaucer, and others. He served as advisor for McMurtry's 1960 Master's thesis, "Ben Jonson's Feud with the Poetasters, 1599-1601." McMurtry returned to his alma mater in 1963 to teach English and creative writing, and it is likely that he presented this book to his former teacher before he left for the East Coast in 1969. A near-fine copy.

Together with:

The Last Picture Show
New York: The Dial Press, 1966. First edition. 8vo. (vi), 280, (2) pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by McMurtry on front free endpaper to his friend, the poet and fellow bookscout, David Meltzer, and his wife, Tina Meltzer: "To David & Tina / in friendship / Larry." Publisher's grey cloth-covered boards, stamped in red; slightly cocked; in original illustrated dust-jacket, spine lightly faded.

An important presentation copy of McMurtry's third novel, the basis for Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 classic Academy Award nominated film. McMurtry first met David Meltzer (1937-2016) when he arrived in San Francisco in the fall of 1960 after being awarded the prestigious Stegner Fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. As McMurtry recounts meeting Meltzer in his first memoir, "I don't think I had ever heard the term 'book scout' until, one night, I wandered in the Discovery Bookstore, in North Beach, and met the poet David Meltzer, who sometime ran the shop at night...I soon took to dropping in at the Discovery Bookshop every night or so, and David Meltzer and I quickly became freinds. One day he even asked me to go scouting with him in the East Bay. I knew little of book scouting but I did have one asset David lacked: a car. Soon we were off." (Books, p. 53 and 55). From this beginning, McMurtry would pursue bookselling in tandem with his prolific literary career. He opened his first shop in Houston while teaching at Rice, The Bookman, and later, in 1970, he opened Booked Up in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and Archer City, Texas, at the time one of the country's largest antiquarian bookstores. A handsome copy.

A lovely first edition set of McMurtry's first three novels, set in the small Texas town of Thalia following World War II.