Questions and Answers

On this, Gertrude Stein’s 136th birthday, first the facts:

Born: February 3, 1874

Where: Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now a part of Pittsburgh

Parents: Amelia and Daniel Stein

Siblings: Michael, Bertha, Simon and Leo

Then the cake, not an Alice creation, but one I think she would have made and Gertrude would have eaten it and loved it:

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One of the questions I am asked most frequently pertaining to GertrudeandAlice is how I became interested in them and what prompted me to begin collecting items relating to them. As I’ve told the story so many times over the years, certain phrases find their way into the narrative.  With each telling, before I use a phrase, I often try to catch myself wondering if someone has heard me tell this before and should I therefore try to relate the circumstances in a different or more creative way. (So for those of you who have heard this before with those familiar phrases, my apologies.)

It all began almost 25 years ago after reading the book, CHARMED CIRCLE: Gertrude Stein and Company by James R. Mellow.  I’d been interested  for a long time in the art and artists of the  period between the two World Wars and somehow Stein and the artists around her made it even more exciting for me.  After finishing the book, I wondered if it was possibly to find first editions of Gertrude Stein’s works at an affordable price.  I started looking for books in antiquarian bookstores (this was before eBay was around).  I began finding some.  I think the first one was in a bookstore in Santa Fe on a business trip.  I don’t recall which book it was, but I believe it may have been the American edition of WARS I HAVE SEEN. » Read the rest of this entry «