McCarthy auctions off typewriter

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US author Cormac McCarthy is selling the trusty old typewriter he has used to type all of his books.

The worn-out 1958 portable Olivetti machine is expected to fetch up to $20,000 (£13,200) when it is sold at auction in New York this week.

The 76-year-old author of No Country for Old Men bought the typewriter for $50 (£30) from a pawnshop in 1963.

But the Pulitzer Prize winner will not embrace computers - his friend found a replacement Olivetti for $11 (£6.50).

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Santa Fe Institute, a scientific research centre in New Mexico, where McCarthy lives.

A blue carrying case and the author's letter of authentication will be included in the sale.

Film adaptations

In the letter, McCarthy states that he "typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not yet published. Including all drafts and correspondence, I would put this at about five million words over a period of 50 years".

Cormac attended the premiere of The Road last month

McCarthy's work includes The Orchard Keeper, The Outer Dark, Child of God, and Suttree.

His Border Trilogy is made up of All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing and Cities of the Plain.

His two most recent works, No Country for Old Men and The Road, were both made into films.

In the letter, McCarthy adds: "It has never been serviced or cleaned other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose and, by the fall of 2009, it was beginning to show serious signs of wear."

His friend and colleague at the Santa Fe Institute offered to buy him a new one, and suggested he auctioned the old one and give the proceeds to the centre.

McCarthy adds: "I thought that was a good idea."

The typewriter will be sold in the sale at Christie's in New York on Friday.