Truman Capote First Editions

• Other Voices, Other Rooms — 1948 · Random HouseCapote's first book. Copyright page states 'FIRST PRINTING' per Random House practice. Cloth with green top-stain. First-issue jacket carries the printed price on the front flap and the famous reclining-Capote author photograph (by Harold Halma) on the rear panel. US Random House edition is the true first, preceding the UK Heinemann edition. Book club copies lack the 'FIRST PRINTING' statement and the front-flap price, and often show a blind-stamp on the rear board.
• A Tree of Night and Other Stories — 1949 · Random House"FIRST PRINTING" stated on the copyright page. Capote's second book, a story collection bound in black cloth with silver and yellow lettering on the spine and a grey topstain, [10], 3-209, [7] pages; the title page is printed in blue with a tree illustration. The first-issue jacket, designed by Leo Manso, carries the printed price on the front flap. Ahearn reference APG 002a. US first edition (Random House, 1949), preceding the Heinemann London edition of the following year. Issues lacking the stated "FIRST PRINTING" line are not the true first printing.
• Local Color — 1950 · Random House"FIRST PRINTING" stated on the copyright page; a collection of illustrated travel impressions with photographs by Cecil Beaton, Cartier-Bresson and others. First-issue jacket priced on the front flap. US first edition; first appearance in book form of this nonfiction collection. Printings lacking the stated "FIRST PRINTING" are not the true first.
• The Grass Harp — 1951 · Random HouseRandom House first edition, published 1 October 1951, 181 pages, copyright page stating 'FIRST PRINTING' per Random House practice. First-state binding is rough beige (oatmeal) cloth with the spine titling stamped in dark red/brown, green, and black, and a brown top-stain. The dust jacket was designed by Miriam Woods; the first-issue jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. US Random House edition is the true first, preceding the UK Heinemann edition of 1952. Book-club copies lack the 'FIRST PRINTING' statement and the front-flap price and may be blind-stamped on the rear board.
• The Grass Harp (play) and A Tree of Night — 1952 · Random HouseCorrect book is "The Grass Harp: A Play" alone, not a combined volume. First edition in rough beige cloth with a printed paper title label on the front panel, a green topstain, and dust jacket; the dramatized stage version of the 1951 novella, illustrated with scenes from the 1952 Broadway production. A small first printing. US first edition of the play text; first appearance of the dramatization in book form. No book-club issue is recorded; the small original printing is the first.
• The Muses Are Heard — 1956 · Random HouseCopyright page states "FIRST PRINTING" (Random House practice of this era). Capote's reportage account of the Everyman Opera company's Porgy and Bess tour of the USSR. Dust jacket designed by Philip Grushkin with English lettering to the front and Slavonic to the rear. US Random House edition is the true first; the UK (Heinemann, 1957) follows. Later printings lack the "FIRST PRINTING" statement.
• Breakfast at Tiffany's — 1958 · Random HouseRandom House, 1958; the full title is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories' and the volume also contains 'House of Flowers,' 'A Diamond Guitar,' and 'A Christmas Memory.' The first printing states 'FIRST PRINTING' on the copyright page. Binding is canary-yellow cloth with the spine title blocked in gilt within a black panel. The first-issue dust jacket is orange and carries a '10/58' date code…. The US Random House edition is the true first; the UK Hamish Hamilton edition (1958) is later. The book-club edition lacks the 'FIRST PRINTING' statement, carries a blind-stamp (usually a small dot or square on the rear board), uses bulkier lower-grade paper, and its jacket has no '10/58' code and no printed price.
• In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences — 1965 · Random HouseMaroon cloth, title gilt to spine, author's initials to front board; 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page with the Random House colophon on the title page; first-state dust jacket with its printed price on the front flap with the code 'the printed price' at the foot of the front flap. US Random House (New York) true first; title page dated 1965 though the trade edition was published January 1966. UK Hamish Hamilton followed in 1966. The work first appeared serialized in The New Yorker. Book-of-the-Month Club issue lacks the 'First Printing' statement and the jacket price and carries a blind-stamp to the rear board; very common.
• A Christmas Memory — 1966 · Random HouseFirst separate book edition of the story. The desirable issue is the signed limited edition of 600 copies, signed and numbered by Capote on the limitation page, printed on special paper and specially bound in green cloth with gilt lettering, with clear acetate jacket and housed in the publisher's red card slipcase bearing the photographic label of the child Capote with Nanny Faulk. First separate trade book edition. The story first appeared in Mademoiselle (December 1956); a privately printed leaflet of the period is the earliest separate appearance. For the published book, the 1966 Random House edition is the first. No book-club issue is a primary concern; the signed/numbered limited issue with intact slipcase and acetate is the premium state.
• In Cold Blood — 1966 · Random HouseFirst trade printing states 'FIRST PRINTING' on the copyright page (it does NOT read 'First Edition'). The first-issue dust jacket is priced at the top of the front flap with a '1/66' date code at the foot of the flap; the wraparound photographic jacket (hatpin motif) is designed by S. Neil Fujita. Published by Random House, January 17, 1966 (copyright 1965). A signed limited edition of 500 numbered copies was…. US Random House is the true first: the trade first is the open-market true first, and the 500-copy signed limited is the apex deluxe issue. The UK edition (Hamish Hamilton, 1966) follows the US. The Book-of-the-Month Club issue is the classic trap: it ALSO states 'FIRST PRINTING' on the copyright page, so that statement does NOT distinguish it from the trade first. Identify the BOMC copy by the small blind/debossed square or circle on the rear board near the foot of the spine, and by the unpriced book-club jacket (no printed price and no '1/66' date code; the flap notes a Book-of-the-Month Club….
• The Thanksgiving Visitor — 1967 · Random HouseIssued first as a signed limited edition of 300 copies, signed and numbered by Capote on the limitation page, in half red cloth over paper-covered boards, housed in the publisher's pictorial slipcase and issued without a dust jacket. A trade edition followed. US first. The story first appeared in McCall's (November 1967). The signed/numbered limited edition of 300 copies is the premium; the trade book is commonly dated 1968. No book-club issue is the concern; the distinction is between the 300-copy signed limited and the later trade edition.
• The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places — 1973 · Random HouseCollected nonfiction and profiles, in red cloth. First printing is identified by the number line on the copyright page reading down to "2" as the lowest figure, per Random House's first-printing practice of the period; the back panel of the jacket carries a photograph of Capote. US first; a first-thus collection of previously published pieces. Book-club issue has a blindstamp to the board and lacks a flap price.
• Music for Chameleons — 1980 · Random HouseCopyright page states 'First Edition' with a number line; for a first printing the line retains the low digit per Random House practice of the period. First-issue jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. The Random House trade first is the true first. A signed/numbered limited issue exists separately. Book club copies lack the 'First Edition' statement and complete number line and the front-flap price.
• Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel — 1987 · Random HouseUS edition states "First Edition" with a number line descending to 1 on the copyright page. Posthumous; assembled from the surviving chapters. The US edition uniquely includes a multi-page editor's note by Joseph M. Fox not present in the UK edition. The true first is the UK edition (Hamish Hamilton, 1986), which precedes the US Random House edition (1987). The US edition is a later printing chronologically but adds the Fox editor's note. Later US printings advance the number line.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: T.S. Eliot, Upton Sinclair, Ursula K. Le Guin, various (ed. Hugo Gernsback), V.C. Andrews, Vernor Vinge.

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