Before The Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded. Written On a Poem By Georges Hugnet

Paris: Plain Edition, 1931. First edition. [32] pp. Original coarse handmade laid-paper wrappers. About fine in the original French-folded glassine wrapper, which is modestly chipped with a small stain on the rear cover.

One of 100 numbered copies signed by Stein, out of a total edition of 120 copies (eighteen were identical roman-numeraled author's copies, with two for the French government copyright). Printed by Durand of Chartres. This was the third of the Plain Edition books published by Stein and Alice B. Toklas. The partners had founded the press the year before (funded by the sale of one of their beloved Picassos) in order to publish Stein's (truncated) work exactly as she wished it, without regard to publishers' demands or expectations. The other books were printed in editions of 1000 or 500 copies; this very limited handmade production sold out immediately. The work was Stein's "translation" of Georges Hugnet's Enfances. Her translation was, as she described, "a mirroring of [Hugnet's work] rather than anything else, a reflection of each little poem." Hugnet was initially pleased with it: "I more than like this reflection, I dream of it and admire it." But the two ultimately fell out as Hugnet prepared to publish the work under his own imprint. Stein refused to have her work presented as a translation of Hugnet's work and that it should be put forth as a collaboration, with both names in equal size type, and the project came to an impasse. Stein's later summation in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas: "In the meantime, 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.'" A beautiful and rare Stein publication. Wilson 16a. (Inventory #: 2445)