Thousands of Books from Cormac McCarthy’s Personal Library Arrive at UT

The University of Tennessee Libraries has received thousands of books from the estate of author Cormac McCarthy. The books — numbering between 16,000 and 18,000 volumes — are from the late author’s personal library.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who died in 2023, grew up in Knoxville and attended the University of Tennessee in the 1950s. One of his early works, Suttree, was a semiautobiographical novel set in Knoxville.

“We think this is unprecedented in library collections: a collection of this size built by an author for his personal reading,” said Jennie Mezick, associate dean at UT Libraries.

McCarthy was a voracious reader — not a collector of rare editions. The titles in his library reveal the encyclopedic scope of his personal interests: everything from advanced mathematics to antique rifles, philosophy to Formula 1 racing, quantum mechanics to men’s fashions.

“For years, McCarthy scholars have wondered what books he read,” said Kris Bronstad, UT Libraries modern papers archivist. “It’s important that we have saved the library of Cormac McCarthy. We are making available the books that he once studied, the ideas he was most inspired by.”

Most of the titles will be available for checkout by students and scholars. McCarthy was notoriously reluctant to talk about his work, which makes this new resource particularly valuable to literary scholars.

UT Libraries staff traveled to Sante Fe, New Mexico, this month to pack up the books and ship them back to Knoxville. They arrived to find the author’s house and outbuildings packed virtually floor-to-ceiling with books. The Cormac McCarthy Society had already done some cataloging of the books, which will be completed by the UT Libraries over the next ten months.