“HE SWORE OFF BEER DRINKING FOREVER, BUT HIS FOREVERS USUALLY JUST LASTED ABOUT A WEEK”

MCMURTRY, Larry. Leaving Cheyenne. New York, Evanston and London: Harper & Row, (1963). Octavo, original beige cloth, original dust jacket. $4200.

First edition of McMurtry’s second novel, signed by him.

"When it comes to spinning a good yarn, few writers do it better than McMurtry" (Houston Chronicle). Expanded from a short story published the previous year, McMurtry's second novel prompted the New York Times to declare, "If Chaucer were a Texan writing today, and only 27 years old, this is how he would have written and this is how he would have felt… The book's comedy is rare, the tragedy heart-rending— and, over all, there is an atmosphere of serenity and wisdom." Made into the 1974 movie Lovin' Molly, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Anthony Perkins, Blythe Danner, Beau Bridges, and Susan Sarandon. First printing, with code "H-N" on copyright page. Bruccoli & Clark IV:261.

Book fine. Some toning to spine of bright, price-clipped dust jacket with residue from later price sticker on front flap. An about-fine signed copy.