Cormac McCarthy. Cities of the Plain. Volume Three of The Border Trilogy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. First edition. Warmly inscribed and signed by the author, "For Billy Ray / All the best / from your / old buddy / Cormac" on the half-title page. Octavo. 292 pages. Publisher's black cloth over black paper boards with gilt titles. Original dust jacket. Light shelf wear to the book and jacket. Minimal foxing to the endpapers and text edges. A near fine copy, with a wonderfully friendly inscription.
Billy Ray Reynolds met Cormac McCarthy one summer in the mid-1970s, when Cormac was a struggling writer working as a stonemason in Tennessee for Bill Kidwell, a lifelong friend of Billy Ray's. Billy Ray was soon surprised to find that McCarthy was an aspiring writer, knowing him at that time as a working stonemason. During this time, Billy Ray was a longtime member of Waylon Jennings road and studio band, where he played guitar and sang harmonies with Waylon. Billy Ray is a professional musician and singer-songwriter, with over 40 years working in the music business in Nashville. He and Cormac McCarthy have been friends for over 35 years.