Paris, France: A Memoir by Gertrude Stein

[Covelo, California]: The Yolla Bolly Press, 2000. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Fine. Schumaker, Ward. One of 200 copies, square quarto, 112 pp., signed by George Plimpton and Ward Schumaker. Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), one of the most important figures in the Modernist movements in both literature and art, has given us a charming glimpse into life in France during the first third of the 20th century regaling us with the life of the average, everyday French. This work differs from her others in that it is a narration, told in a rambling style, touching upon "the behaviour of French cats, the thin arms of Frenchwomen, the paleness of French potatoes...to poignant war stories about children and horses" (n. b., quote from web site of the Yolla Bolly Press).

Interestingly, The New Yorker review saw the memoir differently, as being "about who Americans are and what Americans think when they are not in Paris at all." As with all great writing, it is actually a bit of both, accompanied by twelve poster-like drawing collages by award-winning San Francisco artist Ward Schumaker, and with an afterword by George Plimpton, author and the editor of "The Paris Review".

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in taupe printed paper over boards, illustration of Gertrude Stein on the front cover and spine, brown endpapers, twelve full-page black, white, and yellow collage illustrations; type Gill Sans printed letterpress, on mould made Somerset paper produced at the St. Cuthberts Mill in England, the binding was designed by the Press and the artist and was executed by Cardoza-James Binding Company and John DeMerritt, square quarto (9.75" by 9.75"), unpaginated (112 pages); limited edition of 200 copies, this no. 179, signed by George Plimpton and Ward Schumaker; housed in a slipcase covered with matching brown paper.

___CONDITION: Volume and slipcase are both in fine condition with bright and clean pages, vivid illustrations, free of soiling or sunning, with no prior owner markings - clean, bright, and as new.

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