Music for Chameleons was published by Random House, New York, on 30 July 1980, in a first printing priced at $10.95. It was Capote’s last published book — the long-promised novel Answered Prayers, of which only excerpts appeared, remained unfinished at his death in 1984. The collection represented what Capote called a “new art form”: a fusion of fiction and nonfiction techniques that he claimed had occupied him since In Cold Blood. The reviews were mixed — some critics found the work brilliant, others saw it as a decline from Capote’s earlier standards — but the book sold well.
The Collection
The book is divided into three sections. “Music for Chameleons” (the title piece) is a conversational portrait of a woman in Martinique who plays music for her pet chameleons while they change colour. It is brief, charming, and sets the collection’s tone of intimate, apparently casual disclosure.
“Handcarved Coffins: A Nonfiction Account of an American Crime” is the centrepiece — a novella-length work about a series of murders in a small Western town, each preceded by the delivery of a miniature handcarved coffin to the victim. The narrator (clearly Capote) investigates alongside a local detective. The piece is riveting, but its claim to nonfiction status has been disputed: several details appear to be invented or heavily embellished.
The conversational portraits include encounters with Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Beausoleil (the Manson Family member), a Manhattan cleaning woman, a masseuse, and others. Each is rendered with Capote’s gift for dialogue and his eye for revealing detail.
Collecting Music for Chameleons
First edition (1980, Random House): First printing, $10.95.
Identification points:
- Random House colophon
- “First Edition” stated
- Dust jacket
Approximate market values:
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $100–$300
- Signed first edition: $500–$1,500
- Without jacket: $15–$40
Value trajectory: Moderate demand. The collection is overshadowed by In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Other Voices, Other Rooms in the Capote market. Capote signed extensively during his lifetime (he died in 1984), making signed copies relatively accessible. The book’s value lies primarily in its position as Capote’s valediction — the last complete work from one of the most distinctive literary voices of the twentieth century.
The collection reflects both Capote’s genius and his limitations in his final years. The prose remains beautiful — he never lost his ear for rhythm and cadence. But the work is thinner than his best: the stories lack the depth of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and “Handcarved Coffins,” while gripping, does not approach the moral seriousness of In Cold Blood. Capote claimed he was forging a new literary form; what he was actually doing was surviving — producing the best work he could while alcoholism and drug addiction eroded his powers.