Signed by Lenore Hershey, Between the Covers: The Lady's Own Journal ("La Côte Basque, 1965")
[Signed Presentation by Lenore Hershey] Hershey, Lenore. Between the Covers: The Lady’s Own Journal. First Edition. 1983. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is warmly inscribed, "Oct. 18/1983, For Renée Spivack--and the very nice breakfast she gave me at Bloomie's. I hope to see you again, Lenore Hershey."
Don’t search for former Ladies’ Home Journal editor Lenore Hershey in Gerald Clarke’s otherwise definitive Capote: A Biography. Neither she nor her magazine appear. They are, however, an integral part of the “La Côte Basque, 1965” origin story. As Hershey notes in this entertaining memoir, she and Capote used to meet for gossipy three-hour lunches, inspiring her to commission Truman to write blind items for her magazine. The first one was published in the January 1974 issue, much to the chagrin of Capote swan Pamela Harriman, a barely disguised subject of one of the items. Hershey rejected Capote’s second installment, however, finding the items too dark and disturbing for a women’s magazine. Never one to give up easily, Capote repurposed the material, using it as the basis for the “La Côte Basque” chapter of Answered Prayers. Even apart from the Capote material, this is a fun book. It is easy to understand why Capote enjoyed getting together with Hershey. When it came to gossip, she gave as good as she got. The chapter on the Kennedys is particularly dishy, and her take on Hollywood actors and actresses of that period is not so bad either.
“Truman had agreed to give us two installments of these stories. When the second batch came in, I realized we could not handle them. This time the stories were so cruel, so damaging, so truly wicked, that I chose to send Truman his check and forget the whole thing.”
--Lenore Hershey