Breakfast At Tiffany's: A Novelette by Truman Capote. [Contained in Esquire Magazine November, 1958 Original Issue]

Breakfast at Tiffany's was initially purchased by Harper's Bazaar for $2,000 with plans for its publication in the July 1958 issue. The magazine intended to illustrate it with a series of photo montages by David Attie, commissioned by Harper's art director Alexey Brodovitch. The magazine's editorial landscape shifted, however, when longtime editor Carmel Snow was replaced by Hearst Corporation executives, who demanded alterations to the novella's language due to its sharpness. Despite Attie's completed montages and efforts by Harper's fiction editor Alice Morris to persuade Capote with the layouts, Hearst ultimately forbade the publication of the novella due to concerns over its language and content, fearing a negative response from Tiffany's, a significant advertiser. An indignant Capote subsequently sold the work to Esquire for $3,000, insisting that they use Attie's original photo series. He expressed his satisfaction to Esquire fiction editor Rust Hills, praising Attie's photographs. However, Esquire only featured one full-page image by Attie, disappointing Capote. This photo depicted the first-ever visual representation of Holly Golightly, showing her laughing and smiling in a nightclub. The novella finally appeared in the November 1958 issue of Esquire and received glowing reviews, leading to a surge in sales of the magazine. Attie and Brodovitch continued collaborating with Capote on subsequent projects, including Brooklyn Heights: A Personal Memoir and Observations, both published in 1959. The novel was adapted into the 1961 American romantic comedy of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.