Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Avedon, Richard and Truman Capote. Observations. Simon & Schuster, NY, 1959.
Price: US$799.99 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Oversized first edition hardcover signed by Avedon to the ffep, dated 1993. Boards are rubbed, edges frayed in spots and backstrip is starting to split along gutters. Contents in fine condition. ; Folio 13" - 23" tall; Signed by Author
Seller: curtis paul books, inc., Northridge, CA, U.S.A.
Richard Avedon, Truman Capote. Observations. Simon and Schuster, 1959.
Price: US$1499.99 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover in glassine dust jacket housed in cardboard slipcase. Glassine jacket is missing a piece from back bottom edge. Book is bumped along top edge near spine and has light wear to spine ends, otherwise near fine. Slipcase is quite worn with backstrip breaking apart. Signed by Avedon to ffep. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; Signed by Author
Seller: curtis paul books, inc., Northridge, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: Folio. Glossy paper over boards, original clear acetate wrapper, slipcase. 151pp. Numerous illustrations. Near fine/near fine/very good. Quite minor slipcase wear; ownership signature on rear flyleaf. Tight and quite lovely first edition of the first book by the fashion and portrait photographer (1924-2003), accompanied by Capote's provocative text. While copies signed by Avedon and/or Capote are especially desirable, this unusual extra-illustrated copy bears bold signatures of six of the photographer's celebrity subjects in ink on fine, matching heavy stock 5" X 3" cards tipped to front flyleaf. Top row, left to right, is BRIGITTE BARDOT (born 1934, French actress and model, appears on page 107), who signs hugely in blue fineline, dating it September 1983 at upper right; and RUDOLF BING (1902-97, long-time New York Metropolitan Opera manager, appears on page 21), who signs boldly in black ink, dating it 20 March 1980 at upper right. Middle row, left to right: ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980, British film director, appears on page 15), who signs in black fineline, with typed date of 14 June 1979 at upper right; and LENA HORNE (1917-2010, singer, dancer and actress, appears on pages 86-87), who signs boldly in black fineline, adding "To Richard" at upper left and dating it 10 September 1969 at upper right. Bottom row, left to right: ZINKA MILANOV (1906-89, Yugoslav-born operatic soprano, appears on page 24), who signs in black fineline, dating it 2 November 1983 at upper right; and MAUREEN STAPLETON (1925-2006, Oscar-winning actress of screen, stage and television, appears on page 112), who signs in blue ballpoint, dating it 10 January 1969 at upper right. Laid in are all six original transmittal envelopes. A superb copy with a most unusual signature grouping affixed.
Seller: Main Street Fine Books & Mss, ABAA, Galena, IL, U.S.A.
Truman Capote; Richard Avedon. Observations. Simon & Schuster, C4b, 1959.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover. 4to. Published by Simon and Schuster, Inc, New York. 1959. 151 pgs. Illustrated with Black and White Plates. Signed and inscribed by Richard Avedon on the FFEP. First Edition/First Printing. Slipcased. Slipcase has wear present (slipcase is chipped and worn to the extremities). Glassine DJ present but chipped and worn with a piece missing from the crown of the spine. Bound in paper covered illustrated boards. Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. "Observations is the culmination of a creative collaboration between Avedon and Alexey Brodovitch that began in 1945, when the imperial art director hired the 22-year-old photographer as the youngest member of his team at Harpers Bazaar" (Roth, 148). Avedons "later adoption of a seamless white studio background for most of his fashion and portrait photography was at least partly inspired by Mr. Brodovitchs characteristic use of white space, a means of making the subject seem suspended and weightless on the page" (Times). Not long after Capote and Avedon finished their work on Observations, they again collaborated in documenting the story of a brutal murder in Kansas, In Cold Blood (1965). EB; Folio 13" - 23" tall; 151 pages; Signed by Author
Seller: Last Exit Books, Charlottesville, VA, U.S.A.
Avedon, Richard; Capote, Truman. Observations. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1959.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: Signed by both Capote and Avedon and difficult to find. (Most copies were signed only by Avenon.Light rubbing lower front board, front free endpaper slightly wrinkled (not affecting Capote's signature), small spot on rear free endpapoer, otherwise near fine in partial original acetate dust jacket (lower quarter of front panel missing, few minor chips and tears). Custom clear acetate dust jacket over all is fine and makes the book very presentable. Slipcase has several small splits at top corners, and stain at upper open edge of slipcase, also affecting the unprinted top, along with general soiling. Still, very good. ; Folio 13" - 23" tall; 150 pp
Seller: Beasley Books, ABAA, ILAB, MWABA, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Price: US$8000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 151, [1] pp. Illustrated with gravure reproductions from photographs taken by Richard Avedon, throughout. (Folio) 36x27 cm (14x10½"), original printed white boards, publisher's original slipcase. First Edition. Signed on verso of front free endpaper by Richard Avedon. Classic collaboration of Richard Avedon portraits and witty write-ups by Capote. Images include noted celebrities of art, music, film, stage and literature, such as: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, T.S. Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, Louis Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, Isak Dinesen, et al.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.