Two Years After Cormac McCarthy’s Death: Rare Access to His Personal Library Reveals the Man Behind the Myth Published: September/October 2025 Author: Richard Grant Photographs by: Wayne Martin Belger Category: Arts & Culture --- Overview This article provides an unprecedented look inside the personal library and home of famed and reclusive American novelist Cormac McCarthy, who died in June 2023. McCarthy amassed an immense and diverse collection of more than 20,000 books spanning philosophy, advanced mathematics, history, biology, physics, architecture, menswear, and more. The collection is being physically and digitally cataloged by a dedicated group of scholars affiliated with the Cormac McCarthy Society. --- The Setting and Access The author gained exclusive access to McCarthy’s estate near Santa Fe, New Mexico, about a year after his passing. The house, originally built in 1892 and expanded by McCarthy himself, contained a chaotic assortment of books, boxes, kitchenware, cars, clothes, and personal memorabilia. The library was disorganized; about 2,170 of the books bear McCarthy’s marginal annotations and pencil marks, offering rare insight into his thought processes. --- Library and Intellectual Interests McCarthy’s library dwarfs other famous literary collections, including Ernest Hemingway’s 9,000-volume library. His annotated books reveal deep engagement with: Philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (142+ books, heavily annotated), Hegel, and Kierkegaard. Mathematics and quantum physics: McCarthy self-taught via reading 190+ challenging books. History including Mesoamerican archaeology, French Renaissance, and Norman architecture. Literature from Shakespeare (annotated Hamlet) to James Joyce and Dostoyevsky. McCarthy’s private reading habits favored nonfiction, especially after gaining financial success in later life. He had a highly diverse curiosity, evidenced by books on topics like the biology of naked mole-rats, welding techniques, and the JFK assassination. --- Personal Life and Character Insights McCarthy was born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr. in 1933, changed his name to Cormac in young adulthood. Described by his brother Dennis as sociable and humorous but protective of privacy; contrary to his recluse reputation. Married three times and had complex personal relationships, including a controversial long-term relationship with Augusta Britt. He was an avid outdoorsman, a talented carpenter, mechanic, and collector of classic cars and tweed clothes. Known for his minimalist punctuation and resistance to interviews or public discussion of his work. His novels often explored bleak themes, yet personal annotations reveal a belief in a benign universal intelligence. McCarthy worked writing in bed using a manual Olivetti typewriter, revising books over decades. --- Scholarly Cataloging Project The Cormac McCarthy Society and scholars like Bryan Giemza and Stacey Peebles are cataloging the library to make the collection accessible. Efforts include digitizing titles and plans to create an open-access database for public use. The annotated volumes are set to be archived at the Wittliff Collections (Texas State University), with some volumes going to the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Tennessee. Scholars find McCarthy’s annotations invaluable for understanding literary, philosophical, and scientific influences on his work. --- Legacy and Impact McCarthy became a multimillionaire late in life due to Hollywood adaptations of his novels (All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, The Road). His death was widely mourned in literary and popular culture; lauded as one of America’s greatest novelists. His library and personal artifacts are shedding new light on the man behind the myth, revealing him as a polymath with boundless intellectual curiosity. Future biographies and