Music For Chameleons.

CAPOTE, Truman.

Item Number: 115609

New York: Random House, 1980.

First edition of this collection of fourteen short stories, written by Capote between 1978 and 1980. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Truman Capote on a bookplate affixed to the front free endpaper, “for Winnie APT good wishes Truman Capote.” Near fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by R.D. Scudellari.

Capote's inventive experiments in narrative reportage, particularly notable in his "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood, had a significant effect on the art of fiction. A continuation of his concern with developing the artistic possibilities of journalism, Music For Chameleons contains fourteen pieces, ranging from a portrait of Marilyn Monroe ("A Beautiful Child"), to a novella-length factual account of an unforgettable American crime ("Handcrafted Coffins"), and one conventionally fictional story, "Mojave."