Search Results: First Editions from Chase Rare Books

MASTEROFF, Joe; PRINCE, Harold (Director); KANDER, John (Music); EBB, Fred (Lyrics). Cabaret. New York: Random House, 1967.
First edition of the book of the famous musical, which became a Broadway and Hollywood classic. Cabaret was first presented on November 20th, 1966 at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City. Directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ron Field, the cast featured Jill Haworth as Sally Bowles, Lotte Lenya as Fräulein Schneider, and Joel Grey as the Emcee (he will later play the Emcee in the celebrated 1972 film adaptation directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli).
Cabaret is based on John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera,which was adapted from Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin, first published by the Hogarth Press in 1939, an evocative episodic semi-autobiographical account of his life as an English expat in 1930s Berlin, featuring a cast of Bohemian characters, including the unforgettable night club chanteuse, Sally Bowles.
115 pp, 3 b/w photographic… Read More

STEIN, Jean; PLIMPTON, George (Editor). Edie: An American Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.
FIRST EDITION. A fashion and cultural icon, Edie Sedgwick was Andy Warhol's muse and superstar. This book is an enthralling oral history of Edie told by her family and friends, including Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Mailer, Jasper Johns, Gore Vidal, Roy Lichtenstein, John Cage, and Patti Smith. Warhol has made numerous entries in his diaries regarding the development and publishing of this book, mostly expressing a certain apprehension about the project, and some resentment toward the book's success. However, his contributions to Edie are fascinating, with statements such as: 'She always looked so good. Edie was a beauty, gee!'
HB (ISBN: 0394488199; 9780394488196); 24x16.5 cm. 455 pp. Illustrated with 90 pages of b/w photos. Very good/near fine copy in the very attractive dust-jacket (slight fading to spine) illustrated by Guy Fery.

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)

ZANUCK, Darryl Francis. Habit and other short stories. Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Press, 1923
First edition. When this book was published in 1923, Darryl Zanuck (1902-1979) was still a struggling writer – his legendary career as a movie mogul and Head of 20th Century-Fox, was still ahead of him. Habit is a four-story collection, including 'The Forgotten City', which in 1924 Zanuck turned into a screen story for the silent Western film, The Millionaire Cowboy.
The publication of Habit was funded by A.F. Foster, an eccentric entrepreneur, inventor of Yuccatone, a wonder hair tonic made from the desert yucca plant. In return Zanuck promised to write a story promoting Foster's miracle Yucca plant product. The resulting story - 'The Forgotten City' – is the tale of a mentally unstable chemist whose discovery of a Yuccatone-like product brings prosperity to a New Mexico ghost town. After Habit came out receiving a favourable review from the New York Times, Foster's business went up in flames when the… Read More

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).

MITFORD, Jessica. Hons and Rebels. London: Victor Gollancz, 1960.First edition, first printing.Jessica "Decca" Mitford's classic memoir,with the scarce dust jacket. An entrancing account of growing up in an eccentric aristocratic family in an isolated country home in the Cotswolds during the 1920s and 30s. Jessica's Hons and Rebels, and the novel by her elder sister Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love (1945), depicted the family life of the Mitfords as a series of comic but unnerving episodes, dominated by their father's frequent fits of rage and irrational prejudices, and his children strong desire to escape their parental home.
This book is a great examination of the British class system, life as a rebel aristocrat, and the divisive politics pervading the public and private lives of Britons and Europeans during the 1930s. Decca was a communist supporter, while her sisters Unity and Diana were ardent fascists. Aged 19, she eloped with her cousin Esmond Romilly, Winston Churchill's 'red' nephew, to… Read More

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

WARHOL, Andy. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again). New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975.
First edition, first printing. Signed by Warhol ('AW') to half-title.
A loosely formed autobiography, told with Warhol's trademark blend of irony and detachment, this compelling and eccentric memoir riffs and reflects on all things Warhol: New York, America, and his childhood in Pennsylvania, as well as the explosion of his career in the sixties, and his life among the rich and famous. Filled with the artist's reflections on Love, Beauty, Fame, Work, Time, Death, Atmosphere, Success, Art, and much more. Includes 'The Fall and Rise of My Favourite Sixties Girl", Warhol's fascinating portrait of Edie Sedgwick.
8vo, qtr cloth, a hint of light fading to foot of spine; bottom corner of front board very slightly bumped. Very good in very good dust jacket (a few minor nicks and chips; not price-clipped; in clear, removable protective sleeve). Jacket design by Herb Lubalin. Jacket… Read More

SMITH, Ali. The Seasonal Quartet: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer [and] Companion Piece. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2016-2022.
A complete set of Ali Smith's Seasonal Quartet, plus the Companion Piece, the follow up to the Quartet. All signed first editions, first impressions, except Autumn (5th printing; not signed).
5 volumes. 260, 322, 336, 384, 226 pp.8vo, original cloth, minor bumping to bottom corners of Spring. Overall, a fine set in original David Hockney dust-jackets/bands.

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.

DALTREY, Roger. Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story. London: Blink Publishing, 2018.
First edition, first printing. Signed to title-page. The Who frontman Roger Daltrey's autobiography. This is the story of My Generation, Tommy and Quadrophenia, of smashed guitars, exploding drums, cars in swimming pools, fights, arrests, and redecorated hotel rooms. Arguably one of the greatest rock singers to emerge from the 1960s, giving The Who their uncompromising and rebellious voice identity, Roger Daltrey went to work at fifteen, came through the hard way in the Acton Town area of West London, and then rose with his band mates -Pete Townsend, John Entwistle & Keith Moon - to become one of the greatest international rock stars. Daltrey and Townsend continue to perform live – nearly sixty years after their musical launch.
HB (ISBN: 9781788700283). 346 pp; 14 pp of b/w + col photos. Minor bump to rear top corner.
Fine in fine dust jacket. Front cover photo by John Downing; Back cover photo by Amalie R.… Read More