Alongside the memorabilia autographed by James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Judy Garland and Lucille Ball, RR Auctions will offer a Truman Capote’s original 1958 typed manuscript of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s on online auction later this month. It is expected to fetch at least $250,000.
The manuscript reveals that the iconic Holly Golightly, played Audrey Hepburn, almost never was. Capote had originally named the lead character Connie Gustafson. Its entire 84 pages, mainly on high-quality goldenrod yellow paper, have notations by the author on every single page, with most pages containing at least a dozen, and many pages having closer to 30 corrections.
Breathtaking final working draft of Breakfast at Tiffany’s in which Capote makes his most important revision—changing his heroine’s name to Holly Golightly over 150 times
The manuscript presents a rare chance to step inside the mind of a literary master. Capote began conceptualizing his iconic novella on a European excursion in 1949, but he did not officially complete it until Spring, 1958. On May 28, 1958, Capote left for a four month trip to Greece were he work for the final time on manuscript, in preparation for its October Random House release.
The importance of this manuscript in literary, film, and pop culture is near impossible, that will collectors certainly recognize.
