Books

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. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket which is in good condition. "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. The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded" (Donald Sutherland). “Not only did the memoir make Toklas’s name famous, but it established a postmodernist rationale for autobiographical sophistication. Never intended to be factual, Stein’s story of life in Paris from 1900 through 1930 was told in Toklas’s wryly humorous voice. The genius of Stein’s ear for language allowed her to leave her own convoluted, hermetic…

An autobiography written by Gertrude Stein using the voice of her life partner, Alice B. Toklas, recounting their lives together in Paris.