New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1933. First edition of Gertrude Stein's most famous work; one of the richest biographies ever written. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated from photographs. Inscribed by Gertrude Stein on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with some wear and tear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Signed first editions are uncommon. Largely to amuse herself, Gertrude Stein wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something…