[Literature] Capote, Truman, and Peggy Guggenheim Group of 2 Titles from Peggy Guggenheim's Library

Other Voices, Other Rooms
New York: Random House, no date (ca. 1948). Third Printing. 8vo. (vi), 231 pp. A great association copy, warmly inscribed by Capote on half-title to American art collector and friend, Peggy Guggenheim: "for Truman's Peggy from/her friend, her very own Truman,/who loves her-oh exceedingly/Venice/July 1951." Additionally signed by Guggenheim on front free endpaper. Original light grey cloth, stamped in red and in blue, cocked, cloth soiled and darkened, spine darkened; top edge stained grey, other edges trimmed; dust-jacket wanting; foxing to endpapers; scattered soiling to text; old ownership inscription on half-title crossed out in red pencil.

Capote first met Peggy Guggenheim in the fall of 1950 when he visited her at her home at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice. He visited her frequently over the following decade--in the fall of 1952, summer of 1953, a six week stay in the spring of 1956 where he wrote The Muses are Heard, and for the last time in the spring of 1961. Recalling in her memoir, Out of This Century: Confessions of An Art Addict (London, 1979), Guggenheim writes, "Truman Capote I first met in my entrance hall. A little man in carpet slippers shuffling around. We became very good friends and later he spent two months as my house guest writing The Muses Are Heard [1956]. He was very keen on keeping his line and made me diet also. Every night he took me to Harry’s Bar and made me eat fish. He only allowed me a very light lunch of eggs. He is always madly amusing and I loved having him stay with me." (pp. 348).

Together with:

Out of This Century: The Informal Memoirs of Peggy Guggenheim
New York: The Dial Press, 1946. First edition. 8vo. viii, (ii), 365 pp. Signed by Guggenheim on front free endpaper in green ink. Original blue cloth, stamped in gilt; all edges trimmed; dust-jacket wanting; shirt closed tear in bottom fore-edge of title-page; open tear at bottom of half-title; text leaves toned; pp. 21/22 loose.

Provenance

From the private collection of Asher D. Atchick, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania