Gertrude Stein
Writings 1903–1932

Q.E.D. • Three Lives • Portraits and Other Short Works • The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

"Few have left their mark on this century's literature as has Gertrude Stein. More than just influencing prose and poetry as one of our premier innovators of language, she is, you could say, one of the figures who invented 20th Century writing."—The Library Journal

This volume contains works written by Gertrude Stein between 1903 and 1932: Q.E.D., Three Lives, 36 short works (including portraits, poems, plays, and lectures), and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

Stein's first novel, Q.E.D., was written in 1903. It remained in manuscript form, untyped and unpublished, until after her death. Sometime between 1946 and 1950, Alice B. Toklas produced a typescript that was the basis for the first book version of the novel, published in an edition of 516 copies by the Banyan Press (Pawlet, Vermont) in 1950 under the title Things As They Are. The Banyan Press edition regularized Stein's style and altered some names and phrases from the original manuscript, largely in order to protect the privacy of persons still living. In 1971 Liveright published a new edition of the novel in Fernhurst, Q.E.D., and Other Early Writings (edited by Leon Katz), which restored most of Stein's original text and changed the title to Q.E.D. (following Stein's manuscript title Quod Erat Demonstrandum), while regularizing some of Stein's punctuation and grammar. The text printed in the present volume is that of the holograph manuscript, written in two notebooks now housed at the Beinecke Library, Yale University.

Three Lives, a collection of three novellas, was written in 1905-6 and was first published in 1909 by Grafton Press (New York). No typescript is known to be extant. Collation of the holograph manuscript (now in the Beinecke Library) and the first book edition reveals significant differences of a kind suggesting that Stein revised the text before the first publication. The text printed in the present volume is that of the 1909 Grafton Press edition.

The 36 shorter works included in this volume were written between 1910 and 1928. During this period, Stein had difficulty finding publishers for her work, and much of it remained unpublished until long after it was written; some of the works included here were not published until after her death. Between 1907 and 1909, Toklas began systematically typing the holograph manuscripts that Stein composed each night; Stein would then correct and at times revise these typescripts, often sending copies to friends and potential publishers.

In 1935, Toklas grew concerned about political instability in France and began preparing a complete set of typescripts of Stein's work, using carbon copies of some pieces and retyping others; one set of typescripts was sent to Carl Van Vechten in the United States for safekeeping, while Stein and Toklas kept and bound a set for themselves. In addition, by the spring of 1938, Stein hand deposited approximately half of her existing papers in the Yale Collection of American Literature, an arrangement facilitated by Thornton Wilder. In 1940, Van Vechten deposited his collection of Stein's typescripts in the Yale Collection of American Literature, and Stein continued to mail papers to Yale until the time of her death. After her death in 1946, Yale received three large boxes filled with Stein's writings, and the Beinecke Library staff completed cataloging these materials in 1996. The Yale Collection of American Literature at the Beinecke Library maintains an almost complete collection of Stein's work, including notebooks, holograph manuscripts, typescripts (both originals and carbon copies), presentation copies, first book editions, foreign publications, and correspondence.

For each of the 36 pieces listed below, the texts of typescripts, first book publications, and most periodical publications have been collated. Except in a few instances described below, the texts printed in the present volume are those of the typescripts prepared under Stein's supervision and often containing her handwritten corrections and revisions. In cases where collation revealed substantive discrepancies between the typescript and the printed versions, the holograph manuscript has been consulted for whatever evidence it contains of Stein's intentions; as an result of these comparisons, published versions have sometimes been preferred. For example, in the first book publication of "Sacred Emily" (written 1913; published 1922 in Geography and Plays), two sentences appear that are not in the typescript ("A hand is Willie. Henry Henry Henry."). However, these lines do appear in the manuscript notebook, suggesting that Stein made later corrections, either to the galleys or to a second typescript that is not known to be extant. In the case of "Yet Dish" (written 1913; published 1953 in Bee Time Vine), the typographical style of the typescript is changed in the first book edition, which sets the piece as poetry whereas the typescript is arranged as prose, with line breaks only between the numbered sections. The holograph manuscript notebook, however, suggests that the piece was intended to be set as poetry, since each stanza is written on its own page with line breaks that correspond with those in the first book edition. In each of these two cases, the text printed here is that of the first book publication.

The 36 shorter pieces are arranged by the approximate dates of their composition. The large gap that often exists between the dates of composition and publication makes precise dating of composition difficult, particularly for the early pieces, and the scholarship of Richard Bridgman, Edward Burns, Ulla Dydo, Donald Gallup, Robert Bartlett Haas, Leon Katz, Bruce Kellner, and Jayne Walker, in addition to the Stein catalog at the Beinecke Library, has been consulted.

"Ada" was written in 1910 and was first published in Geography and Plays (Boston: Four Seas, 1922). A comparison of the first book edition, typescript, and holograph manuscript in the selections from Geography and Plays printed in this volume suggests that Stein made later changes (either to a setting typescript not known to be extant or in proofreading) that are not evident in the bound typescripts. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Matisse" was written circa 1910-11 and was first published by Alfred Stieglitz in a special issue of Camera Work (August 1912). It was collected in Portraits and Prayers (New York: Random House 1934). The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 9 (pp. 37-44).

"Picasso" was written circa 1910-11 and was first published by Alfred Stieglitz in a special issue of Camera Work (August 1912). It was collected in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 9 (pp. 45-49).

"Orta or One Dancing" was written circa 1910-11 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first collected in Two: Gertrude Stein and Her Brother, and Other Early Portraits (1908-12) (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1951), as part of the Yale Edition of the Unpublished Writings of Gertrude Stein. Comparison between the typescript in bound volume 9 (pp. 1-36) and another typescript showing Stein's handwritten corrections suggests that the second typescript is a later version of the piece, since a phrase ("she was then resembling some one, one who was not dancing, one who was writing") that is typed and crossed out in the former typescript is omitted from the latter. The text printed here is that of the typescript showing Stein's handwritten corrections.

"Flirting at the Bon Marche" was written circa 1910-12 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first collected in Two: Gertrude Stein and Her Brother; and Other Early Portraits (1908-12). The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 10 (pp. 70-74).

"Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" was written circa 1910-12 and was collected in Geography and Plays. It also appeared in Vanity Fair in July 1923. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Tender Buttons" was written in 1912 and was originally published in 1914 in New York by Claire Marie (a private press established by the poet Donald Evans). The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 11 (pp. 1-88).

"Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia" was written in 1912 and first appeared in Camera Work (June 1913). It was collected in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 11 (pp. 89-94).

"One. Carl Van Vechten" was written in 1913 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Susie Asado" was written in 1913 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Yet Dish" was written in 1913 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first published in Bee Time Vine (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1953) as part of the Yale Edition of the Unpublished Writings of Gertrude Stein. Because the typographical style in the book version seems closer than the typescript to Stein's intentions as indicated by the holograph manuscript, the text printed here is from Bee Time Vine.

"Americans" was written in 1913 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"In the Grass (On Spain)" was written in 1913 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Guillaume Apollinaire" was written in 1913 and was first published in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 12 (pp. 14-15).

"Preciosilla" was written in 1913. Stein used "Preciosilla" to illustrate her ideas on writing in her lecture "Composition as Explanation," delivered at Oxford and Cambridge in 1926. It first appeared in Composition as Explanation, published in London by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at their Hogarth Press in November 1926. The text presented here is that of the typescript, bound volume 12 (pp. 48-50).

"Sacred Emily" was written in 1913 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"Turkey and Bones and Eating and We Liked It. A Play" was written in 1916 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here from Geography and Plays.

"Lifting Belly" was written between 1915 and 1917 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first published in Bee Time Vine. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 15 (pp. 1-70).

"Marry Nettie" was written in 1917 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first published in Painted Lace (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955) as part of the Yale Gertrude Stein series. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume (pp. 119-29).

"Accents in Alsace. A Reasonable Tragedy" was written in 1919 and was first published in Geography and Plays. The text printed here is from Geography and Plays.

"A Movie" was written in 1920 and was first published in Operas and Plays in 1932 by Plain Edition, a publishing company established by Stein and Toklas in Paris in 1930. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 15 (pp. 294-97).

"Idem the Same. A Valentine to Sherwood Anderson" was written in 1922 and was first published in The Little Review (9:3, Spring 1923). It was later collected in Useful Knowledge (New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1928) and in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here that of the typescript, bound volume 17 (pp. 165-70).

"An Instant Answer or a Hundred Prominent Men" was written in 1922 and was first published in transition 13 (Summer 1929); it was later collected in Useful Knowledge. The text presented here is that of the typescript, bound volume 17 (pp. 51-68).

"Erik Satie" was written in 1922 and was first published in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is from Portraits and Prayers (the typescript is not known to be extant).

"Cezanne" was written in 1923 and was first published in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed is that of the typescript, bound volume (p. 197).

"A Book Concluding With As a Wife Has a Cow A Love Story" was written in 1923 and was first published in Paris by Editions de la Galerie Simon in 1926. It appeared in transition 3 (June 1927). The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 18 (pp. 54-66).

"Van or Twenty Years After. A Second Portrait of Carl Van Vechten" was written in 1923 and was first published in The Reviewer (4:3, April 1924). It was collected in Useful Knowledge and in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 18 (pp. 67-69).

"If I Told Him. A Completed Portrait of Picasso" was written in 1923 and was first published in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 18 (pp. 83-87).

"Geography" was written in 1923 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first published in Painted Lace. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 18 (pp. 88-93).

"The Difference Between the Inhabitants of France and the Inhabitants of the United States of America" was written in 1924 and was first published in Useful Knowledge. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 18 (pp. 200-8).

"Composition as Explanation" was written and delivered as a lecture at Oxford and Cambridge in 1926. It appeared in The Dial (81:4, October 1926) and was published in Composition as Explanation. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 19 (pp. 218-32).

"An Acquanintanncc with Description" was written in 1926 and was published by the Seizin Press, hand-set by Robert Graves and Laura Riding, in London, April 1929. The text printed here is that of the typescript, bound volume 19 (pp. 245-88).

"The Life of Juan Gris. The Life and Death of Juan Gris" was written in 1927 and was first published in transition 4 (July 1927); it was later collected in Portraits and Prayers. The text printed here is that of transition 4 (see note 566.24-26 in this volume).

"Patriarchal Poetry" was written in 1927 and did not appear in print during Stein's lifetime. It was first published in Bee Time Vine. The text printed here is that of the typescript.

"Four Saints in Three Acts" was written in 1927 and was excerpted in transition 16/17 (June 1929). It was published in its entirety in Operas and Plays. The text printed here is that of the typescript.

"Virgil Thomson" was written in 1928 and was first published in Portraits and Prayers. No typescript is known to be extant. The text printed here is from Portraits and Prayers.

No typescript is known to be extant for The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which Stein wrote in 1932. The book first appeared serially in The Atlantic Monthly from May to July 1933, and was published by Harcourt Brace and Co. in New York later that year. The text presented here is that of the 1933 Harcourt Brace edition.

Although Stein's use of language and punctuation was unconventional, she employed standard spelling; therefore words inadvertently misspelled in the holograph manuscript of Q.E.D. or in Toklas's typescripts, as well as other obvious slips, have been corrected. However, Stein's omission of the apostrophe in some contractions ("its,'' "whats," for example) is fairly consistent and so has not been changed. Her British forms of several words such as "realise" and "recognise" have also been retained.

This volume presents the texts of the original printings chosen for inclusion here, but it does not attempt to reproduce features of their typographic design, such as display capitalization of chapter openings.

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