by Edward Burns
Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you and Fania and the best of everything and plenty of it including new and old, life has been xciting and tranquil since our return, [Kristians] Tonny now completely interested in Anita [Thompson]1 is an older and a sadder man, we have been doing our bit if you can do anything in the way of selling anything let me know, otherwise the little company is happy it enlarges somewhat and they all speak tenderly of you, I will send you soon a little thing that was printed of mine in the original french of which I am inordinately proud,2 and more than that I love you very much
Always
Gertrude
Everybody likes born to be. I liked the serious essays in the anthology, thanks a lot3
G.
1. Note by Van Vechten, 21 January 1941: “Anita Thompson, a negro girl to whom I introduced Kristians Tonny, with whom he became infatuated.”
2. Stein’s “Film: deux soeurs qui ne sont pas soeurs,” in Revue Européenne (mai/juin/julliet 1930), 5/6/7: [600]–1. A note indicates that this is “Le premier texte écrit et publié en français par Miss Stein.”
3. Stein may be referring to Van Vechten’s foreword and Muriel Draper’s introduction to Taylor Gordon’s Born to Be (New York: Covici, Friede Inc., 1929).
To Carl Van Vechten
[Postcard: Birthplace of Marechal Joffre at Rivesaltes—April 1917]
[postmark: 29 January 1930] [27 rue de Fleurus Paris]
My dearest Carl,
We all lunched with the Duchess [de Clermont-Tonnerre]1 and talked tenderly of you, the opera is now all copied and being sent to Darmstadt if they said yes it would be nice but anyway things are quite nice all the little band are having their ups and their downs their boils and their results,2 figuratively and litteraly, but anyway we all love you
Gtrde.
1. By “we” Stein is probably referring to herself, Toklas, and Virgil Thomson.
2. By the late 1920s Stein had become friendly with a number of young artists. The group included Virgil Thomson, Pavel Tchelitchew, Georges Hugnet, Georges Maratier, Christian Bérard, Kristians Tonny, Bravig Imbs, René Crevel, Eugene Berman, and Leonide Berman. For a variety of reasons Stein quarreled with almost everyone in this group. She eventually became reconciled with Thomson and Maratier.
To Gertrude Stein
[Telegram]
2 March 1930 New York
IF NOT TOO EXPENSIVE WE WANT PICASSO TO ILLUSTRATE NIGGER HEAVEN COULD YOU HELP PERSUADE HIM LOVE
CARLO
To Carl Van Vechten
[postmark: 3 March 1930] 27 rue de Fleurus
Paris
My dear Carl,
I am writing instead of cabling because it is too long to xplain. The trouble with asking Picasso is that he is just as liable to say yes as no but having said yes he is more than likely not to do anything, and the thing would drag on and there would always be a possibility and probably nothing would happen and the effort to have anything happen would be disagreeable to everybody concerned and at the end probably nothing would happen, that is the way it is. On the other hand it might be entirely different but it is most likely to be that way. It sounds as if it is going to be a beautiful edition and lots of love to you always and all
Gertrude.1
1. Note by Van Vechten, 21 January 1941: “This letter refers to a proposal I made to Gertrude to try and persuade Picasso to make illustrations for the deluxe Nigger Heaven. The illustrations were eventually made by E. McKnight Kauffer and are at present in my possession, but the book was never published because Kauffer was so late in getting them done that the depression of 1929 was upon us.” Van Vechten gave these illustrations to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1942.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Portrait of Kee San holding flower]
[postmark: 25 May 1930] [150 West Fifty-fifth Street New York]
Dear Gertrude:
We are sailing June 11 on the Mauretania & will be in London for a week or two & then come to Paris early in July & I hope to motor to Aix [les Bains] to see you. Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas, 3 rue d’Antin, Paris will be our address as usual. They will provide mail to London.
Love,
Carlo.
To Carl Van Wechten and Fania Marinoff
[postmark: 7 June 1930] Bilignin par Belley
Ain
My very dear Carl & Fania
Will we be glad to see you well I guess yes, and we will be glad to show you us and Belley and Bilignin and Basket. It will be nice let us know just when and how you could spend a couple of days at the Hotel Pernollet at Belley you know and not be too uncomfortable and then be with us all day well anyway we will see you that is the important thing, we [are] very busy farming, we like farming, and we are busy being published we like being published1 here is the cover of Lucy Church and we will go and see her she is in the neighborhood and I think you will like her,2 anyway, you will like the portraits they are almost ready, and we like each other and à trés bientôt
Lots of love
Gertrude.
1. Through Ford Madox Ford, Stein had met William Aspenwall Bradley (1878–1938), an American writer and editor, who had started a literary agency in Paris with his wife Jenny. Bradley agreed to serve as Stein’s agent and sent out manuscripts to a number of publishers, including Little Brown; Macaulay; Viking; and Harper’s. All of the publishers rejected the manuscripts. Disappointed by these results, and by negotiations with Lee Furman, president of Macaulay Company, to publish the cut version of The Making of Americans, Stein and Toklas decided to start their own publishing company, to be called the Plain Edition. To finance this project, Stein sold to Marie Harriman, a New York art dealer, the Picasso Blue Period picture Woman with a Fan (1905).
The plain Edition published five books by Stein: Lucy Church Amiably (1930); Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded (1931); How to Write (1931); Operas and Plays (1932); and Matisse Picasso and Gertrude Stein, With Two Shorter Stories (1933).
2. Lucy Church refers to a church in Lucey, a small village not far from Belley.
To Carl Van Vechten
[postmark: 7 June 1930] Bilignin par Belley
Ain
My dearest Carl,
Nous voilà here in our country home and seeing to the peas and beans and barley grows all thanks for the book,1 I don’t think I am going to like it as well as Born to be but then I liked that better than I do most books and so did everyone I showed it to. I am inclosing an announcement of the new book of mine that Georges [Hugnet] is doing, if anybody wants it tell them to send for it this of course does not include you bien entendu.2 You see Carl the reflections of the underworld the professional thieves etc. always make me think so sadly of Hutch[ins] Hapgood who used to tell me so much that bored me about professional thieves, they are always full of wisdom but I do now it’s never very wise now the Born to be man’s and yours and [Miguel] Covarrubias’s and mine that is all wisdom that is wise but I do know I guess if I have to have it Dickens but then I never liked the professional thieves in Dickens I guess it is too professional, all this of course before I have read the book and just read his maxims, anyway I have a prejudice against professional thieves not because of their thieving but because of their professionalism they are a little like school teachers or school teachers’ scholars I don’t know which, but you do know what I mean. And what are your plans and how do you like them, and what’s the news and how’s the book and love to Fania and to you3
Always and always
Gertrude.
1. Van Vechten had probably sent Stein a copy of Tuft’s The Autobiography of a Criminal: Henry Tufts, ed. Edmund Pearson (1804; rpt. New York: Duffield & Co., 1930). Hutchins Hapgood had written The Autobiography of a Thief (New York: Fox, Duffield & Co., 1908).
2. Enclosed with the letter was a Bulletin de souscription for Stein’s Dix Portraits. This volume contained ten of Stein’s portraits in English and in a French translation by Georges Hugnet and Virgil Thomso
n. The book contained a preface by Pierre de Massot and was illustrated by Picasso, Pavel Tchelitchew, Christian Bérard, Kristians Tonny, and Eugene Berman. The portraits were “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso,” “Guillaume Apollinaire,” “Erik Satie,” “Pavlik Tchelitchef or Adrian Arthur,” “Virgil Thomson,” “Christian Bérard,” “Bernard Faÿ,” “Kristians Tonny,” “George Hugnet,” and “More Grammar Genia Berman.”
3. Van Vechten’s new novel, Parties, was published by Knopf in August 1930.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: The Old Houses, Holburn, London]
[postmark: 30 June 1930] [London]
Dear Gertrude:
So happy to get your letters. We are going to Paris Tuesday—July 1—and shortly after probably will motor South. In any case we are surely coming to see you!
Love
Carlo.
address Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas 3 rue d’Antin.
To Carl Van Vechten
[postmark: 4 July 1930] Bilignin par Belley Ain
My dear Carl,
Welcome to France and I do hope that we will be seeing you and Fania soon, the Hotel Pernollet Belley really is a very nice hotel and in a week is to have its six rooms new with bath installed, and I think you would like it there and be with us and see the country, and you could be very comfortable and anyway it would [be] nice but only you must be sure to give a few days’ notice particularly if it is anywhere near the 14 of July, we are xpecting to hear from you and see you very very soon,
Always
Gertrude.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Wallace Collection: Reynolds. The Strawberry Girl]
[postmark: 7 July 1930] [Hôtel Bristol, Paris]
Dear Gertrude—
Thank you a thousand times for Dix Portraits. I have already read about Kristians Tonny with excitement & appreciation. You shall hear our plans as soon as we make them. The weather is bad.
Love—
Carlo.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Les Petits Tableaux de Paris—“Le Lapin Agile” cabaret artistique de Montmartre; le “Père Frédé”]
[postmark: 14 July 1930] [Hôtel Bristol, Paris]
Dear Gertrude—
We start on our motor trip Wed. July 16 & eventually will get to the Hotel Pernollet. We are going down by Tours & [2 words?] Biarritz—[coming back?] by Macon—Aix-les-Bains etc. Paris address will always reach me—but write me Comp. Nationale d’Escompte de Paris—Toulon—we shall reach there next Sunday or Monday. Dying to see you.
Love
Carlo.
To Carl Van Vechten
[Postcard: La Maison de Jeanne d’Arc à Domrémy]
[postmark: 17 July 1930] [Bilignin par Belley Ain]
My dearest Carl,
It is nice that you are really coming, we come on the road from Macon before Aix [les Bains], and you will be comfortable at the Pernollet and happy with us and I know you will like seeing a little of rural France, in a typical provincial town and let us know just when and you will have nice weather and everything and lots of love
Gertrude.
I liked the postal of Frederic.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Carcassonne (Aude)—La Cité L’Entrée du Château—Porte Narbonnaise]
22 July [1930] [Carcassonne, France]
Dear Gertrude:
We are here now, but slowly coming your way, by way of Barcelona, & Toulon, perhaps late next week or early the week after. I’ll telegraph you to reserve a chambre at the Pernollet. We are sure to come, because our chauffeur did his military service at Belley & can hardly wait!
Love,
Carlo,
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Tarascon—La Tarasque]
25 July [1930] [Arles, France]
Dear Gertrude,
We could not get the proper visas soon enough & so did not go to Barcelona. We are going to Toulon today & should be with you by the end of next week. I will let you know.
Love,
Carlo
you could reach me for a few days Comp. Nat’l d’Escompte de Paris at Toulon.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Souvenir de Monte Carlo. Salle de Roulette l’Heureux Gagnant]
29 July [1930] [Cannes, France]
Dear Gertrude—
These are the dernier chic enjoying themselves. We are at Cannes in the sun & love it.—I think we’ll stay here until Saturday or Sunday & then start for Belley—
Love,
Carlo.
Comp. Nat. d’Escompte de Paris—Cannes.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Young Black Boy and Black Girl]
31 Aug [i.e., July 1930] [Cannes, France]
Dear Gertrude,
I have instructed my banque at Paris to forward my mail to the Hotel Pernollet—so you see we are on our way. Please ask them to guard it carefully, and in a day or so I’ll telegraph or write you the exact day. We go back to Toulon tomorrow & then up, but Virgil [Thomson] wants me to see Le Puy & perhaps we shall stop 2 or 3 other places.
Love
Carlo
To Carl Van Vechten
[Postcard: Route de Belley à Yenne—Port Pierre-Châtel]
[postmark: 1 August 1930] Bilignin par Belley
Ain
We can’t offer you sun or chic but I think you will like it all the same any way you will like us, and it will be nice, and on your way eat at Mme Bourgeois’ at Priay it’s worth while1
Love and very soon
Gertrude.
1. The restaurant of Madame Bourgeois was one that Stein and Toklas were particularly fond of. The town of Priay is not in the Bugey (the region around Belley) proper.
To Gertrude Stein
[Postcard: Jeux Provençaux—Arènes d’Arles]
[2 August 1930] [Avignon, France]
Dear Gertrude:
We are now in Avignon & it is raining which may delay us—otherwise we go tomorrow to Orange & Valence Monday to Le Puy—Tuesday or Wednesday—Belley. Why don’t you tell the hotel that they will get a telegram from me the day before & to reserve chambre à deux lits—très tranquille & as much running water as possible—
Love—
Carlo
I will also telegraph you, of course.
To Gertrude Stein
[Telegram]
[postmark: 4 August 1930] Valence [France]
Arrivant demain avant diner s’il vous plait reserver chambre a pernollet mille pensees
Carlo
To Carl Van Vechten
[6 August 1930]1 [Bilignin par Belley Ain]
My dearest Carl,
Welcome to our little city, and we are expecting you to dinner now this evening you and Fania and the chauffeur too and we will be there at seven o’clock at Bilignin and anxiously waiting for you and it will make us all very happy, lots of love to you and Fania
Gertrude2
1. This letter was left for Van Vechten at the Hôtel Pernollet in Belley.
2. Note by Van Vechten, 21 January 1941: “This summer Fania and I were motoring through Spain & we stopped off at Belley for a night at the Hotel Pernollet & spent parts of two days with Gertrude and Alice at Bilignin.”
To Alice Toklas
[Postcard: Valence: Le Musée—Portrait de Comte de Montalivet, par Couder]
[postmark: 7 August 1930] [Hôtel Pernollet, Belley]
Dear Alice,
When you asked me about being recognized in restaurants last night I forgot to tell you that I am frequently mistaken for Harry Thaw!1—We had a fabulous day with you & Gertrude yesterday. The most perfect I can remember. I am leaving in tears & hope to see you both very soon again. The Hotel Bristol—Paris will reach us until we sail Sept. 11.
Love to you both
Carlo.
1. Harry K. Thaw, the man who murdered the architect Stanford White on 25 June 1906.
To Carl Van Vechten and Fania
Marinoff [Postcard: Environs de Belley—Entrée du Château de Lucey]
[postmark: 8 August 1930] [Bilignin par Belley Ain]
My dears,
We did have a nice visit and I am wearing the brooch and it was a very pleasant occasion in every way and we are hoping for more of the same and how was everything going home to Paris, and we are glad you liked our country and our home and us and lots of love
Gertrude
To Alice Toklas
[Postcard: Young Black Boy and Black Girl]
[postmark: 9 August 1930] [Beaune, France]
Dear Alice,
Before we leave Beaune there must be a special word of thanks for the honey cakes of Aix-les-Bains which are delicious. It is 8 A.M. and in a short time we are off for Paris where we shall arrive tonight. Much love to you both,
Carlo
I liked the [oeuf?] of Bourg1
1. Oeufs à la Coque are a speciality at Bourg-en-Bresse, where Toklas had advised Van Vechten to stop for lunch.
To Carl Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff
[Postcard: Brillat-Savarin, Gravure par Bertall]
[postmark: 9 August 1930] [Bilignin par Belley
Ain]
My dears,
I forgot to give you Mike [Stein]’s address and telephone number, it is Chemin de la Plaine Vaucresson, and his telephone no. is Garches 392, I have just written to him that you will ring him up.1 I’ll be sending you Lucy Church soon, we are still talking about you.
Yours with lots of love
Gtrde.
1. Stein’s eldest brother, Michael, together with his wife Sarah and their son Allan, lived in the Villa Stein (Les Terrasses), erected in 1927 at Garches on the outskirts of Paris by Le Corbusier.
