Ephemera: Cormac McCarthy

How to beat the death tax

The story goes that…

Cormac McCarthy was known for refusing to sign just his name in books. If possible he personalized each book. That way it couldn’t become just a unit of monetary value for collectors. It’s reported that his only bequest to his son, John, was to be a limited number of books autographed with only his name. Thus they’d have huge value, but not be subject to inheritance taxes beyond the book’s cover price.

Now he’s died, and we shall see.

First Martin Amis, then McCarthy. Don Delillo must be very careful for the next few days.