Capote, Truman

Autograph manuscript signed of the short story "House of Flowers," 77 pages, in ink with numerous corrections, additions and deletions, on ruled and paginated paper bound in a Borrador notebook (8  1/4  x 6 in.; 210 x 153 mm), [Taormina, Sicily, ca. 1950], two-toned cloth; spine and covers with some wear and dampstaining, not affecting manuscript.

The heavily corrected manuscript of the short story "House of Flowers," one of Capote's finest achievements.  This critically acclaimed story, set in a Haitian bordello, was first published in Rome in Botteghe Oscure in 1950.  It was then published in this country in Mademoiselle in April 1951.  Later that year it was given the O. Henry Award.  It was first collected in Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories (1958).  The story was later made into a Broadway musical (see lot 418).

In 1948, Capote went to Haiti on assignement for Harper's Bazaar.  The trip produced a travel article, which was published that year and was later collected in Local Color.  Capote spent a good many of his evenings in Port-au-Prince sitting on the porches of the bordellos, passing the time gossiping with the local prostitutes.  Two years later, living in Sicily, he used the stories he had heard to fashion one of the best short stories of the mid-20th century.  The present manuscript is a crucial early draft, offering a fascinating glimpse of Capote's working methods.  Capote has signed his name in full on the front free endpaper of the notebook; on the blank leaf just before the beginning of the story, he has written, almost as an epigraph, "as though tiny fish were swimming in her veins."  (In the story, Ottilie asks Rosita how it feels to be in love. "Ah, said Rosita with swooning eyes, you feel as though pepper has been sprinkled on your heart, as though tiny fish are swimming in your veins.") The corrections and changes to the story itself are extensive. 

A hitherto unknown manuscript of a key work in the history of the short story.