OPERAS AND PLAYS

Paris: Plain Edition, 1932. Overall very good.. Association first edition, inscribed by Alice Toklas to author Elizabeth Sprigge, who would publish one of the earliest formal biographies of Stein in 1957 - and which Toklas repudiated. After Stein's death, Alice Toklas stewarded Stein's posthumous literary reputation, both assisting editors of new editions of Stein's texts and providing assistance (or obstacles, as the case may be) to biographers. At the time of this book's inscription, novelist Elizabeth Sprigge was working on her first biography, about the Modernist Swedish author August Strindberg, that would be favorably reviewed for its "remarkably accurate and clear treatment of a controversial figure" (Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 22 No. 1, 28). Toklas's inscription here - "In memory of the author and the understanding of her work" - suggests that Toklas was, in 1948, open to the possibility that Sprigge could view Stein in a similar way. Indeed, Toklas was impressed by Sprigge's biography of Strindberg upon its release the next year, and she initially supported Sprigge's idea of writing a biography of Stein because of it.

In 1953, Toklas wrote her own editor at Harper to provide a connection for Sprigge to publish her planned biography of Stein; it was, Toklas's biographer remarked, "a recommendation that Alice came to regret" (Simon, 283). As Sprigge continued gathering material for the biography, it became clear that she intended to "include personal details [...] a practice Alice would not allow" (Simon, 284). Toklas warned off friends whom Sprigge was contacting and, in 1956, argued at length with Sprigge regarding the content of the biography - especially her own role in it. Toklas argued she herself "had no place in the book except, perhaps, as the editor of the Plain Edition" (Simon, 284), Stein and Toklas's short-lived small press that published this book, OPERAS AND PLAYS. Harper ultimately published Sprigge's GERTRUDE STEIN: HER LIFE AND WORK in 1957, much to Toklas's dismay.

Printed in a run of only 500 copies, OPERAS AND PLAYS was the fourth book of five that Stein and Toklas's Plain Editions imprint issued. Stein had by this time become frustrated by the limitations of getting her work accepted by mainstream publishers and decided to take the means in hand herself: to raise funds for the establishment and operation of the press, Stein famously sold her Picasso painting "Woman with a Fan" (Dydo, 418).

A scarce Stein text, in a copy rich with implications on the question of a writer's control over their own works and life. 7.25'' x 5.25''. Original tan printed wrappers. In original ten printed slipcase. 400, [2] pages. Inscribed by Toklas in brown ink to first leaf: "To Elizabeth Sprigge, / In memory of the author and the understanding of her work / Alice Toklas / Paris - Bastille Day - 48." Slipcase with significant soil and staining to top edge, toning to spine. Wrappers with slight bowing at corners, toned spine with central crease, tiny closed tear to top front joint.