Search Results: Capote and the Swans from Chase Rare Books

VANDERBILT, Gloria and FURNESS, Lady Thelma. Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography.David McKay Company: New York, 1958
Third Printing. From the library of Truman Capote, with his ownership initials on the front endpaper. Laid in is a Bonhams slip indicating that this was part of lot 1061 in "The Private World of Truman Capote" sale.
This is the dual autobiography of the famous Morgan twin sisters, Gloria and Thelma, the 'It girls' of the 1920s, whose names came to spell glamour, wealth, romance, and scandal. Thelma married one of the richest man of the era, and was the mistress of King Edward VIII until she made the mistake of introducing him to her good friend Wallis Simpson.
Gloria married into the Vanderbilt family, and was at the centre of the most famous custody battle of the 20th century, fighting her sister-in-law Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney for guardianship of her heiress daughter Gloria. Gloria Vanderbilt (the younger) was one of Capote's friends from his early youth in Manhattan, a teenage… Read More

GUEST, C.Z. First Garden. New York: G.P. Putman's Sons, 1976.
With an Introduction by Truman Capote. Illustrations in the book and dust jacket by Cecil Beaton. Book design by Bea Feitler.
First edition. This was Guest's first of several books on gardening. Warmly inscribed in Guest's typical green pen, "To John [Loring?], with great admiration, Happy gardening, C.Z. Guest, Jan '79."
4to, original cloth. 127pp, illus. Very good in very good dust jacket (slight wear to spine ends).
'As Raymond Chandler remarked of his femme fatale in The Long Goodbye: "There are blondes, and then there are blondes." Mrs Guest, shimmering in the blue smoky light, was one of the latter. Her hair, parted in the middle and paler than Dom Perignon, was but a shade darker than the dress she was wearing, a Mainbocher column of white crepe de chine. No jewelry, not much makeup; just blanc de blanc perfection.' (from Capote's Introduction)

RADZIWILL, Lee. Happy Times. New York: Assouline, 2000.
First edition. Signed and inscribed by the author.
Half notebook, half photo album, Happy Times, presents Lee Radziwill's reminiscences of the 1960s, a period of her life that was particularly rich and exciting. Rather than offering a chronological story, the book evokes people, places and moments, and takes us back to one of the most fascinating period of the 20th century. Includes chapters on Truman Capote, Andy Warhol and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
HB (ISBN: 2843232503). 900g; 28x19.5cm. 168 pp; b/w + col photos. Front spine ends and bottom of front board bumped. Tiny tear/nick to the top of a couple of pages. Very good in very good dust jacket (not priced-clipped).

AVEDON, Richard; CAPOTE, Truman. Observations. New York: Simon & Shuster, 1959.
First edition. Photographs by Richard Avedon. Introductory essay 'On Richard Avedon', and text accompanying the photographs by Truman Capote. Book design by Alexey Brodovitch.
The first collection of Avedon's photographs to appear in book form. Features some of the most fascinating figures of mid-twentieth century: Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Coco Chanel, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, T.S. Elliot, Ezra Pound, Isak Dinesen, Leonard Bernstein, Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Mae West, Gloria Swanson, Robert Oppenheimer, and others.
The book includes "A Gathering of Swans", Capote's famous essay about female beauty and elegance, illustrated with Avedon's photos of Marella Agnelli, Babe Paley, and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Folio. 151, [1] pp. Original paper covered boards, slight wear to foot of spine, minor spotting. In original acetate dust jacket, with some loss to top of… Read More

GREENBERG-JEPHCOTT, KELLEIGH. Swan Song. London, Hutchinson, 2018.
Exclusive signed first edition, limited to 250 copies (this is copy #97/250). As new in strikingly stylish white swan dust jacket. Playlist loosely inserted. With original Marella Agnelli bookmark.
Author's debut novel, an entertaining and spellbinding reimagining of one of the most fascinating literary scandals - the epic fall out between Truman Capote and his "swans", a group of high society female friends, which included Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Marella Agnelli, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill, over the appearance in Esquire magazine in 1975 of "La Cote Basque, 1965", a chapter from his novel-in-progress, Answered Prayers.
(ISBN: 9781786331052). Hardback. 472 pages . 0.8 kg.

SCOTT, Peter; The Wildfowl Trust. The Swans. London: Michael Joseph, 1972.

First edition. Signed by Peter Scott. Swans are fascinating birds, and this book is certainly a must-have on the subject. Chapters include Classification, Distribution and Migration, Family Life, Art, Heraldry and Mythology, Conservation, and more.
Sir Peter Scott (1909-1989) was an artist, writer, ornithologist, naturalist and conservationist. In 1946 he founded The Wildfowl Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to wildfowl research, conservation, education and recreation. He was the first person ever to be knighted for services to nature conservation. Peter Scott was the son of Antarctic explorer, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who died when returning from the South Pole in 1911.
4to. x, 242. Col frontis, b/w photos, text illustrations. Very good in dust jacket (slight edge wear). The dust jacket, colour frontis, as well as many text illustrations are by Peter Scott. A vintage bookmark designed by Peter Scott loosely inserted.

BENJAMIN, Melanie. The Swans of Fifth Avenue. Delacorte Press, 2016
First edition, first printing. Signed.
This is a novel about New York "swans" of the 1950s, and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.
HB (ISBN: 9780345528698). 341 pp. Fine in fine dust jacket.