Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
McCoy, Horace. THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$86.25 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 1st Edition. 186 pages in good condition. Endpapers marked. Cloth cover greyed but in good condition. No DJ. G+
Seller: J. Wyatt Books, Ottawa, ON, Canada
MCCOY, Horace. They Shoot Horses Don't They. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$110.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (21cm); Tan cloth titled in black and red on cover and spine; red topstain; 187pp. Forward lean; topstain mildly faded; scratches to rear cover, and splitting to rear joint; endpapers soiled; Good (a reading copy only). "Story of a marathon dance, with all its attendant ballyhoo, set in the Depression years of the 1930's. One of the main participants, a youth still idealistic but down on his luck, reacts to the deep pessimism of his dancing partner by shooting her" (BAIRD 1597). McCoy's first book, much of which was based, no doubt, on what he saw while working as a bouncer at marathon dance contests during the Depression. Beyond being a spare, bleak parable about American life, the novel is also a scathing critique of both the nation's economy as well as the "spectator sport" nature such events devolved into. Contestants were subjected to countless hours of physical and mental torture, pushing themselves to great lengths for the promise of food, shelter, and a potentially life-changing payout. The prizes were exceptional for the time, typically paying out $1,000 to the Grand Prize winners, or the equivalent of a full year's income for the average household during the Great Depression. Basis for Sydney Pollack's Oscar-winning film adaptation (1969), starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, and Gig Young. HUBIN 266.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. THEY SHOOT HORSE, DON'T THEY?. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$195.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Facsimile dust jacket + original dust jacket in 2 pieces lacking about 2/3 of the spine. Book is very nice except for faint moisture stain line across upper corners near spine of tan cloth binding. Photos available. Size: 12mo - over 6?" - 7?" Tall
Seller: Artis Books & Antiques, Calumet, MI, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. 2nd printing. A Fair to Good copy. 8vo. Beige cloth with vertical red stripes. Edges and tips rubbed; joint cloth rubbed through; spine darkened, with the crown and foot worn. End papers tanned, Book plate of Ewing Cherry, stage actor. Laid in, is a hand written letter to Ewing Cherry, from the Author Horace McCoy, on McCoy's stationary. The letter says that McCoy remembers Cherry from the old days, and that a lot of their old friends are now in LA. McCoy thanks him for the nice things he's said about the book, and closes with "For Ewing Cherry- in memory of co-ed writers- hot summers and beautiful women, Horace." The letter was once attached to the front end paper with old cloth tape, now laid in. *** McCoy and Cherry probably knew each other from working together at the Dallas Theater. ***.
Seller: Frey Fine Books, Rougemont, NC, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. They Shoot Horses, Don't They. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$700.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Bound in publisher's oatmeal cloth with black and red stamping. Very Good in Good+ original dust jacket. Gutter of front cover has typical offsetting/darkening; cloth a bit foxed, as is typical, but less so than many copies. Fragile jacket chipped at extremities and well-creased along edges, tear along fore edge of back panel, a few pieces of tape on verso, price on back flap intact ($2.00). An existentialist meditation on capitalism, unrequited love, and the meaning of murder in the guise of a novel about the marathon dance contest craze. Such was the remarkable range of the American noir novel in its heyday. Also the basis of the great 1969 Sydney Pollack film.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
MCCOY, HORACE. THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?. Simon and Schuster, 1935., New York, 1935.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Author's first book. Non-authorial gift inscription on the front fly leaf. Laid-in is a note to the same recipient with comments about the book. Near fine in dust jacket with restoration to the spine ends, corners, and extremities. The story of two young people who accidentally come together and enter as partners in a marathon dance contest. The grueling dancing takes its toll on the girl's already weakened spirit, and she tells the boy that she'd be better off dead, that her life is hopeless - all the while acting cruelly and bitterly, alienating those around her, trying to convince him to shoot her and put her out of her misery. After all, they shoot horses, don't they? A major American novel and the basis for the award-winning film directed by Sydney Pollack and winner of five Academy Awards. Film starred Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Al Lewis, et al.
Seller: BUCKINGHAM BOOKS, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, GREENCASTLE, PA, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$1699.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Beige cloth lettered in black along the spine. Red and black ruled lines to the front board, with red topstain. A slight lean, with a pull to the headband. A bookseller ticket from the Hill Bookstall in Syracuse to the rear pastedown. The dust jacket has short tears and shallow chipping, with a few stains to the rear panel. Publisher's price of $2.00 to the rear flap. The author's first and most famous book, depicting the brutal and exploitative dance marathon craze which gripped America in the 1920s and 1930s.; 186 pages
Seller: Bungalow Books, ABAA, Pueblo, CO, U.S.A.
Horace McCoy. They SHoot Horses Don't They?. Simon & Schuster, 1935.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935. Hardcover. Condition: near FIne. First Edition. First edition. near FIne in Good+ original dust jacket. Gutter of front cover has typical offsetting/darkening. Oatmeal cloth boards with bright shapr colored striping. intact jacket chipped at extremities and price on back flap intact ($2.00). The basis of the great 1969 Sydney Pollack film.
Seller: Suibhne's Rare and Collectible Books, Newbury, OH, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. They Shoot Horses Don't They. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1935.
Price: US$3250.00 + shipping
Description: Cream colored cloth printed in crisp red and black. INSCRIBED on the front fly "To Jimmy Starr whose kindness to the "unknown" is a Hollywood tradition - with gratitude and admiration - Horace McCoy August, 1935." A very good jacket with mild creasing and tape reinforcing in a few place on the verso. 1/8" paper loss at the folds but no chipping. A fabulous incription from McCoy and a sly comment on the cold hearted Hollywod of the depression era of 1935. Size: Octavo
Seller: California Bookseller - J. R. Aboud, Carmel Valley, CA, U.S.A.
McCoy, Horace. The Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1935, 1935.
Price: US$7500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing. A spectacular copy SIGNED by Horace McCoy on a laid in signature. This First Issue sophisticated dustjacket is rich in color with NO chips or tears and has the publisher's printed $2.00 price at the bottom of the rear flap. The book is bound in the publisher's original cloth and is in excellent condition. The binding is tight with NO cocking or leaning and the boards are crisp with minor wear to the edges. The pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. A superb copy in collector's condition. We buy Horace McCoy First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.