On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut’s canonical antiwar science fiction novel “Slaughterhouse-Five,” Christie’s has auctioned a scrapbook in which the author, who died in 2007, collected correspondence and photographs from his time in the United States Army in Dresden during World War II. The images and texts in this monumental artifact, all unpublished, survived thanks to the safekeeping of Vonnegut’s sister, Alice. From letters to his family, signed “Kay,” to photos of a once majestic city now in rubble, these clippings provide a deeply personal behind-the-scenes look into the experiences from which the novelist drew in writing his sixth and perhaps most influential novel.

— LAUREN CHRISTENSEN

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