Cormac McCarthy's Famed Typewriter Fetches $254,500 at Auction, New One Costs $11

NEW YORK – The Olivetti Lettera 32 manual typewriter used by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy for nearly five decades sold for an astonishing $254,500 at a Christie's auction in New York on December 4, 2009. The iconic machine, which McCarthy reportedly purchased for $50 in 1963, was the instrument behind all of his major works, including "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men." The proceeds from the sale were donated to the Santa Fe Institute, a non-profit interdisciplinary scientific research organization.

The final auction price significantly exceeded Christie's pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000, underscoring the literary and historical significance attached to the author's personal writing tool. The sale highlighted the unique connection between a celebrated writer and the physical means of their creation.

McCarthy, known for his reclusive nature and dedication to his craft, used the same light blue Olivetti Lettera 32 to type approximately five million words over 50 years, encompassing all his novels, screenplays, and correspondence. In an authentication letter accompanying the typewriter, he stated, "It has never been serviced or cleaned other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose."

The auction came about after the typewriter began showing significant signs of wear. A friend and colleague, John Miller, offered to purchase a replacement for McCarthy. The author accepted, and a new, identical Olivetti Lettera 32 was acquired for a mere $11, plus $19.95 for shipping, providing a stark contrast to the quarter-million-dollar auction price of its predecessor.

Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer who handled the auction for McCarthy, described the machine's allure, stating, "When I grasped that some of the most complex, almost otherworldly fiction of the postwar era was composed on such a simple, functional, frail-looking machine, it conferred a sort of talismanic quality to Cormac’s typewriter. It’s as if Mount Rushmore was carved with a Swiss Army knife." Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA, further emphasized the Olivetti Lettera 32's design as a "masterpiece."

The Olivetti Lettera 32, designed by Marcello Nizzoli and introduced in 1963, was a popular portable typewriter known for its robust yet elegant design. McCarthy's continued use of a manual typewriter, despite the advent of digital technology, reflected his preference for the tactile experience of writing, a sentiment shared by other notable authors who eschew modern word processors. The substantial sum raised from the auction will support the Santa Fe Institute's research and facility improvements.