The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe - Numbered Edition

The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe - Numbered Edition

Regular price $375.00 USD
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A powerful and unrelenting journey into a young boy’s heart of darkness, The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe is startlingly original and impossible to put out of your mind.

Set in a small town in Ireland in the early 1960s, The Butcher Boy is the story of Frances “Francie” Brady, also known as “pig boy,” the only child of an alcoholic father and a mother driven mad by despair. As his troubled home life collapses, Francie retreats into a violent fantasy world. Held up for scorn and ridicule by the sanctimonious neighbor Mrs. Nugent, and dropped by his best friend Joe in favor of Mrs. Nugent’s son, Francie finally finds a target for his rage, and a focus for his twisted, horrific plan. Dark, haunting, and often screamingly funny, The Butcher Boy chronicles the pig boy’s ominous loss of innocence and chilling descent into madness.

Written in a hybrid of first-person narrative and stream of consciousness, critics marveled at Patrick McCabe’s unique use of rhythm and language upon the novel’s publication in 1992. Critic Tim Guathier claimed McCabe’s style of writing forces the reader to “constantly reassess Francie Brady’s psychological stability,” making the novel all the more terrifying. The New York Times hailed The Butcher Boy as “stunning… part Huck Finn, part Holden Caulfield, part Hannibal Lecter.”

The Butcher Boy won the 1992 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize. In 1997, it was adapted by the author and Neil Jordan into an award-winning film.


The signed limited edition of The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe is presented in three states: Lettered, Numbered and Artist editions. 


NUMBERED EDITION

  • 6” x 9” trim size.
  • 248 pages.
  • Limited to 350 copies.
  • Full leather binding covered in genuine pig suede.
  • Cover and spine are blind stamped.
  • New exclusive introduction by Patrick McCabe.
  • Six full color illustrations by David Lupton.
  • Signed by Patrick McCabe and David Lupton.
  • Printed offset on premium Mohawk Via.
  • Housed in a slipcase covered with acid free Kraft butcher paper.
  • Bookmark with all pre-orders.

Published editions may differ slightly from mockups and prototype designs.
Illustrations © 2021 by David Lupton.

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Customer Reviews

Based on 10 reviews
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T
Tim Stevenson (desert flower)
Pleasant Surprise

I haven't read this one and it's one of the very, very few I'm not familiar with.

That said, this book is my kind of book, tactile, it uses a text set I'm fond of (not that I'm familiar with a whole lot of typesets/text sets, I know a little about a lot generally), the paper is gorgeous, as usual, and the design is just perfect for the subject matter from what I understand.

I was shattered about the slipcase alteration but it's relieving to see the design elements used on the endpapers.
Loving endpapers lately, make such a difference to some books.
It's still very clever and nuanced to use Butcher's paper for the case, I suspect that may be lost on some.

The most noticeable design aspect is the suede like covering used for the covers and spine, and the carved lettering for the title, absolutely epic.
Suntup have a few suede like covers/cases but somehow they all feel quite different.

The art is amazing, beautifully precise pictures using an erratic and complex brush technique, very evocative and definitely piques my interest for the inevitable reading.
One of my favourite artists that I've been introduced to through these books.

I do wish everything was lettterpress but I wouldn't give up Suntup's variety of style and attention to detail, both aesthetic and in keeping with the tone of each individual book, for anything, the competition is very limited in my mind simply because I love almost every title, and don't plan to cease buying their books until I have no choice.
Hopefully a long way off (at least as far THH I hope) but being overseas does complicate matters somewhat.

Absolutely beautiful book, particularly for the price.

G
Gian Pier Protti
Beautiful book

I really like this book. The design is spectacular, the quality is wonderful. I don't however like the slip case. The original design showed a pink slip case with blood stains. The one received is simply brown, no designs. That was a small disappointment.

E
Erik Hawkins
Another great addition

The book itself was much better quality than I expected from the renderings. The suede covered boards were a great choice. The book itself was pretty much flawless, but the only reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 is only because I feel like the slipcase was not up to the quality of the book itself. The slipcase feels like it is on par with other artists editions but not a numbered production

J
Jacob Corbin
The Butcher Boy

Excellent quality.

S
Steven Mandel
Outstanding

The whole book is amazing.
The leather skin is beautiful