"THE HERALD OF A NEW GENRE," SIGNED BY TRUMAN CAPOTE

CAPOTE, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House, (1965). Octavo, original maroon cloth, original dust jacket. $2700.

First trade edition of Capote's landmark non-fiction novel, signed on the half title by him.

Shortly after reading a short New York Times article about a shooting in the Midwest, a "reporter named Truman Capote traveled to Kansas to investigate the shotgun murder of a farm family. The result changed journalism forever" (Salon). "Hailed as a masterpiece," In Cold Blood established Capote as the "herald of a new genre, 'the non-fiction novel,' which recognizes the convergence of fiction and fact in times of outrage, the insane surrealism of daily life" (Hart, 122; Allen, 247). With "First Printing" stated on copyright page. Preceded only by a signed limited edition of 500 copies published the same year. Trade editions with the tipped-in signed leaf were issued for the First Edition Circle Book Club of Chicago. Though copyrighted in 1965, the first trade edition was actually released in January of 1966.

Book fine; tiny bit of tape reinforcement to verso of about-fine dust jacket.