The world is round gertrude stein

The World Is Round: Gertrude Stein’s Little-Known 1938 Children’s Book



It is hardly a secret that I have an obsession with little–known children’s books by famous authors of literature for grown-ups. Among them is

The World Is Round

(
public library
) by writer, poet, and art collector
Gertrude Stein
(February 3, 1874–July 27, 1946), one of the most beloved luminaries of the early 20th century. Its story is an unlikely but wonderful one: In 1938, author Margaret Wise Brown of the freshly founded Young Scott Books became obsessed with convincing leading adult authors to try their hands at a children’s book. She sent letters to Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Gertrude Stein. Hemingway and Steinbeck expressed no interest, but Stein surprised Brown by saying she already had a near-complete children’s manuscript titled
The World Is Round
, and would be happy to have Young Scott bring it to life. Which they did, though not without drama.

Stein demanded that the pages be pink, the ink blue, and the artwork by illustrator Francis Rose. Young Scott were able to meet the first two demands despite the technical difficulties, but th


Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. As-new copy, prroduced in an edition of 400 unnumbered copies, two volumes both bound in full rose-pink cloth with silk-screened titling, housed in a purpose-built, printed box. Though the box exterior is very lightly scuffed, the contents are in mint condition. Gertrude Stein selected Clement Hurd to illustrate her first and only children's book, THE WORLD IS ROUND, in 1939 from a field of competitors who submitted their work to her. For this Arion Press edition, Hurd's wife ? herself a noted children's book author ? contributed a companion volume, THE WORLD IS NOT FLAT; a memoir detailing the history and creation of the original publication, including correspondence between Stein and Hurd.The main volume is circular, 9 inches in diameter, 120 pages. The companion volume is square, 6 by 6 inches, 48 pages. The type is Monotype Century Schoolbook with handset Stymie Bold for display. Illustrations are printed in blue, the text in black, and the display type in rose ink.









The World Is Round
is a children's book written by Gertrude Stein, published in 1938. The book was illustrated by Clement Hurd, who is best known as the illustrator for Margaret Wise Brown's children's classics
The Runaway Bunny
(1942) and, especially,
Goodnight Moon
(1947).

I've lately decided I am firmly pro-Gertrude Stein, but to date this is still just the third book I've read by her. I only recently learned of its existence, via Ethan's posts about it, and even then, I wasn't expecting to read it any time soon, except I came across the attractive 75th anniversary edition on display at the Children's Book Store here in Baltimore. This edition includes the original book - with its pink pages and blue text, as mandated by Stein - an afterword by Clement Hurd's wife, Edith Thacher Hurd (from 1986), and a new foreword by Thacher Hurd, their son (and incidentally a writer of children's books himself, including one of our old favorites,
Art Dog
). These two pieces, especially the afterword, tell the interesting story about the genesis of Stein's book and its production, in the context of the burgeoning and 'experimental' world of children's books in the 1920s and 1930s,


Hardcover. Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. FIRST US EDITION. Small 4to, pp. [iv], 67, [1], incl. Hurd's charming illustrations in white and navy. Cream buckram spine, lettered in blue, navy paper boards, upper board lettered in white. Endpapers plus first and final pages white, text block pink, lettered in navy (at Stein's insistence). Externally shabby: worn, significant losses to spine ends, corners rounded. Endpapers and dedication page toned, liquid stain to top margins of first few leaves, grubby fingers marks, else, clean and tight. Fair. A binder's copy of Stein's only children's book, which had been helped into print by Margaret Wise Brown (whose own writing was influenced by Stein). Brown (1910-1952) had been hired in 1938 as W. R. Scott's first editor and tasked with recruiting contemporary authors to write children's books (she would herself go on to be a prolific and celebrated children's author). Stein, who was already at work on The World is Round, accepted with certain demands. While the book was printed in blue ink on pink paper, the publisher insisted on an in-house illustrator, rather than Stein's choice of Francis Rose. Cleme