Upcoming Auction: The Private World of Truman Capote
- by Bruce E. McKinney
An unusually personal collection
By Bruce McKinney
Truman Capote may have been a man but these days he's an industry. He was born in a red state but is very big business in the blue states these days. He is of course the celebrated author of In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffney's, A Christmas Memory and numerous other writings. He was a collector, the caged man in a gilded prison of anxiety, despair, extraordinary success and lasting fame. His life is the sore that is relentlessly picked both by those who identify with and appreciate him and his many critics who fault his openly gay life. He, who never received the highest writing awards in his lifetime, seems destined to enjoy in death an enduring recognition that passes silent judgment on those who ignored him decades ago.
So this past year there was the movie Capote, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman that focused on the research and writing of Capote's masterpiece "In Cold Blood," story of the Clutter murders in Kansas in 1959, a movie for which Mr. Hoffman received a Best Actor Academy Award. This year there is Infamous, another movie dealing with the same subject.
For those who wish to have something more tangible than a movie ticket stub or a paperback copy of one of Capote's works there is an auction at Bonhams in New York on November 9th that will provide satisfying collecting opportunities for even insatiable Capote collectors. The auction title says it succinctly: The Private World of Truman Capote.
There are the requisite personal and inscribed copies of Capote's works. The estimates look very low for association copies although condition is often a problem. I think provenance will trump condition and actually jump up and down on it as Capote was known to do when in a fit of peak.
The material is intensely personal. Think of it as a house dispersal, the country auction of a literary giant. Drug dealers who need a passport may want to buy his though immigration may notice it's thirty years old. There are doodles, postcards sent, letters, signed checks and his Emmy nomination certificate for A Christmas Memory in 1966. For those who have not yet purchased advanced degrees on line to enhance their resumes here is the opportunity to purchase honorary degrees he received from Vniversitas Longinslanae and Coe College.
The man was a writer but he was also a decorator so there are association posters of plays and performances by and about him, silver, dinnerware, objects of glass, monogrammed and association matches. Lot 1245 is a collection of keys he, like millions before and after, kept when they checked out of hotels. The estimate is $10 to $20, low enough for the Capote collector who is on a strict budget to think about buying. Would you like to play Scrabble using Truman's set? That's lot 1247 and estimated at $50 to $100.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
