[Rarebooks] FS: Fine, Lengthy Alice B. Toklas SIGNED Handwritten Letter 7 months after Gertrude Stein's death

[Charles Agvent]

TOKLAS, Alice B. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS). Paris, 14 February 1947. 
Superb closely written four-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED composed 7 
months after Gertrude Stein's death on an 8" x 10-1/2" sheet folded into 
fours to friend Tony Scott SIGNED "Alice Toklas." With the original 
envelope addressed in Toklas's hand. Fine letter to Scott while he was 
attending Pomona College in Claremont, California, studying creative 
writing. The initial part of the letter gives a critique of his short 
story "Jeffry - a love story" published in THE CRITERION magazine. In 
part: "I was waiting to receive THE CRITERION before answering your 
letter -- it has just come and I have read it. Well my feeling about 
Jeffry is a little mixed -- some of it is good and well once in a while 
it is a word that interferes -- sometimes unnecessary and other times 
wrong -- but you play between the reality and the dream very 
convincingly.... But what really appalls me is something called critical 
notes on ‘Loss’ -- Is it possible that such things are thought and said 
by men selected to help you write -- it is incredible -- their standard 
-- their point of view --- their general uneducatedness.... For God's 
sake Tony --- work out your own salvation -- don't let anyone tell you 
anything -- don't think you can't do it by yourself -- if the worst 
comes to the worst wait until you run up against someone who does know 
what literature is. I hope you are working hard all the time -- its all 
there is to do. Did Gertrude ever tell you: an artist does not need 
criticism -- he needs appreciation. It’s what she used to say -- When 
she was at Radcliffe -- which was at that time an annex to Harvard and 
so she had her experience of James -- and Munsterberg and Santyana and 
[?] -- well James Vaughan Moody was a teacher there and he corrected her 
daily themes. Gertrude said she owed him a good deal because he barely 
wrote anything -- a question mark here or there -- a word at the end of 
the paragraph -- but at the end of the theme -- a ‘good’ or ‘better’ or 
‘not as good.’ She said it left her alone with her work -- with no 
audience. And that that was the only way." Toklas goes on to discuss 
various tributes to Stein and her opinion of them and concludes the 
letter with some gossip and news about her cats. Faint crease from 
mailing; envelope with stamp removed. Fine.
Anthony Scott was a playwright and novelist who visited Toklas and her 
partner Gertrude Stein on a regular basis when he was a G.I. in Paris. 
(#021408)        $1,500

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/021408/alice-b-toklas/autograph-letter-signed-als

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