Cornell Auctions · November 21, 2026 · Bellport, New York
The Magpie
and the Swans
The Possessions of Truman Capote
Collected over a lifetime between New York and Sagaponack, and preserved since 1984 by his biographer, Gerald Clarke.
From the Catalogue · Roy and Carlo
THE
POSSESSIONS
OF TRUMAN
CAPOTE.
Truman Capote collected the way he lived — with joyful, unapologetic abandon. A visitor to his New York apartment once noted that his rooms contained the contents of “a very astute little boy’s pockets ... in short, everything that might seem useful or handy in a day’s adventuring around the world.”
Most of what you’ll find in this catalog came from Sagaponack — the weathered gray beach house on Long Island where he worked, walked his bulldog Maggie, and accumulated, without apology, everything that caught his eye. Some came from further afield. All of it is personal, lived-in, and entirely his.
Cornell Auctions · Bellport, New York
NOVEMBER 21, 2026.
THE MAGPIE & THE SWANS: THE POSSESSIONS OF TRUMAN CAPOTE