[McMURTRY, Larry (1936-2021), his copy]. GUTHRIE, Woody (1912-1967). Bound for Glory. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1943.
8vo. Numerous illustrations in the text after sketches by the author. Original dark brown cloth stamped in gilt (spine gently sunned, front lower corner bumped; original dust jacket (chipping with losses along edges, spine a bit sunned with some stains). Provenance: Larry McMurtry (his bookplate, which he designed, features the horseshoe-shaped brand his father and grandfather used on the McMurtry cattle), from his personal library at his home in Archer City; also, with McMurtry’s neat ownership signature on front free endpaper and dated 1959.
Second printing. In 1929, Guthrie spent eight formative years in the town of Pampa, Texas, about 60 miles northeast of Amarillo. It was here that Guthrie learned guitar and started writing songs, also discovering a love and talent for drawing and painting. During the 1870s, McMurtry’s grandparents came to Texas as pioneers, eventually settling in the small town of Pampa and the surrounding towns. In 1998, Larry McMurtry gave a speech in Pampa for the opening of a new library: “Only two people in the large audience had ever heard of the McMurtrys, although the uncle I was named for had fallen to his death from a grain elevator just three blocks from where I spoke. We came as pioneers, we worked extremely hard, for a time we prospered; then the old folks died and their children died; little by little the hard-acquired land got sold and vanished, making it a close question as to what exactly we won. Strong lives, I suppose”.