Party of the Century, Signed by Deborah Davis
[Signed] Davis, Deborah. Party of the Century. First Edition. 2006. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is inscribed on the flyleaf, “For Jill, Hope you enjoy the PARTY! Best wishes, Deborah Davis. It is also signed “Deborah Davis” on the title page.
Condé Nast editor Leo Lerman joked that the guest list for Truman Capote’s famed Black and White Ball resembled “an international list for the guillotine.” Alas, the executioner’s blade was out, but not for the guests. Its target was the brittle neck of the 20th Century itself. The party was in 1966, the pivot point between the relatively calm early years of the 1960s and the turbulent ones that followed, in which society changed forever. Never again would country club members take precedence over the movers and shakers of international society, of which Truman’s guest list represented the vanguard. Though it would have been better to have attended, this book is the next best thing. It covers all aspects of the party—its host, the glittering guest list, its gargantuan press, and its aftermath. What we all know now, but Capote did not realize then, was his life had reached its apogee and would soon take a precipitous decline. Within a decade, many on his guest list would no longer be speaking to him. The knowledge what was to come, however, does not take away from the pleasure of the book. As Deborah Davis, encourages in the inscription to this copy, “enjoy the PARTY!”
“Traditionally, Hollywood, Washington, and New York rarely intersected. Capote’s party changed all that, and not just for one night.”
--Deborah Davis