In Cold Blood : Signed By The Author by Capote, Truman - 1966

The First UK printing published by Hamish Hamilton, London in 1966. The BOOK is in near Fine condition with just a very light indentation to the covers fore-edge and to the text-block fore-edge. A small penned mark to the lower text-block. Very light toning to the text-block. The yellow top-stain and sliver titling remain bright. The WRAPPER is complete and is in Fine condition with no toning to the spine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. The book has been signed by the author to the front blank end-paper : 'For Willie Kay, with all good wishes, Truman Capote'. Harper Lee worked together with Capote's on this true crime novel, with Lee acting as his 'assistant researchist' and editing the final draft of the book. Upon its publication in 1965 in the USA, Capote failed to acknowledge Lee's contributions to the book, after which their relationship was never the same. A very sharp copy of Capote's classic title which received high acclaim on publication : 'Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans -- in fact, few Kansans -- had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.' If all Truman Capote did was invent a new genre -- journalism written with the language and structure of literature -- this 'nonfiction novel' about the brutal slaying of the Clutter family by two would-be robbers would be remembered as a trail-blazing experiment that has influenced countless writers. But Capote achieved more than that. He wrote a true masterpiece of creative nonfiction. 'In Cold Blood' established Capote as the 'herald of a new genre, the non-fiction novel, which recognises the convergence of fiction and fact in times of outrage, the insane surrealism of daily life' (Hart, 122; Allen, 247). 'The best documentary account of an American crime ever written. . . . The book chills the blood and exercises the intelligence . . . harrowing' (The New York Review of Books). The book was successfully adapted into a film of the same name in 1967 and again in 2005 as the biographical portrait, Capote, starring the Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the 'Academy Award for Best Actor' for his outstanding performance. Although the American edition does turn up from time to time signed, I have been unable to trace any record of the UK edition signed by the author appearing at auction in the last 30 years. Very scarce with such attributes. Ashton Rare Books welcomes direct contact.