SELECTED WRITINGS OF GERTRUDE STEIN

New York: Random House, 1946. Hardcover. Very Good. Today, American Gertrude Stein is a large part of the literary legend of "Paris between the wars," known for her art collection and her Paris salon, where leading modernist artists and writers such as Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Lewis, Anderson and Pound often gathered. Stein's own writing -- novels, plays, poetry -- are largely unknown and unread today. This copy of "Selected Writings, " edited by her friend, photographer Carl Van Vechten, with a frontispiece photo of Stein and her partner, Alice B. Tokas, includes "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," Stein's own thinly diguised autobiography; also,"Tender Buttons;" "As a Wife Has a Cow: A Love Story;" and "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" as well as poems and plays. This copy is a first edition, first printing (as stated). About 5 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, 622 pages in grey cloth-covered boards with a blue title/author box on spine with gold lettering. Sorry, no dust jacket. A neat previous owner's name on fep, and light age-tanning in page margins, o/w text is complete, clean and unmarked, w/o noticeable damage or flaws such as creases or bumped corners. "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," published in 1932, was a popular bestseller though part of the Stein legend is the wide disagreement of critics and readers as to her writing, with opinions ranging from "experimental and profund" to "nonsensical trash." Already scarce, "Selected Writings" provides a large enough sample for readers to make their own decisions.