Today is Gertrude Stein’s birthday, it’s my birthday too. I love sharing a birthday with her and without fail find a reason to make mention of this each and every year. Here is a bit of proof. This year I would like to discuss the recently published 75th anniversary edition of her charming book, The World Is Round, illustrated by Clement Hurd. This reprint is gorgeous in the very same size as the first edition and with the same striking blue illustrations and text on the same lovely rose paper. This brand new version also includes two interesting essays, one by Hurd’s son, artist Thacher Hurd and one by his wife, writer Edith Thacher Hurd, both of which add enormously to the story of this great collaboration. In fact I never knew that Clement Hurd studied in Paris with Fernand Léger and other modernists — of course Stein chose him as her illustrator. The World Is Round is indeed a treasure. Happy Birthday Gertrude!

The World Is Round by Gertrude Stein (HarperCollins Publishers, 2013)