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Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
Stein, Gertrude (1874-1946) Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded. Written on a Poem by Georges Hugnet.
Paris: Plain Edition, 1931.
First edition, copy number 52 of 100 printed on Antique Montval paper and signed by Stein on the limitation page of a total edition of 120; in the publisher's original limp paper glassine-wrapped paper covers; book ticket of Gotham Book Mart, 51 West 7th Street, New York City, pasted inside back cover; housed in an attractive folding phase box; top front cover bumped, minor imperfections to glassine, otherwise very nicely preserved; all sheets with deckle edges; unopened throughout; 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in.
Stein's work is a contemplation inspired by Hugnet's original, more than a translation. "Georges Hugnet wrote a poem called ‘Enfance.' Gertrude Stein offered to translate it for him, but instead wrote a poem about it. This at first pleased Georges Hugnet too much and then did not please him at all. Gertrude Stein then called the poem ‘Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded.'" (Quoted from The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.)
This rare output of Stein & Toklas's Plain Edition imprint was the third work they produced. Most of the other offerings were editioned in greater numbers. Stein founded the press so that she could exercise creative control over the way her work was presented.
