Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein

Third prize winner of the 2008 Alcuin Society for Excellence in Book Design in Canada for Poetry, awarded to Mark Goldstein

Centennial Edition

Department of Reissue No. 3

Introduction by Steve McCaffery

A seminal text in the history of poetry and poetics, Tender Buttons was originally published in 1914 and is considered one of the great Modern experiments in verse. At one time or another it has been thought of as a masterpiece of Cubism, a modernist triumph, a spectacular failure, a collection of confusing gibberish, and an intentional hoax. Despite the fact that it was written by an ex-pat American, the text of Tender Buttons has had massive influence on Canadian poetry and poetics for nearly three quarters of a century. Therefore, BookThug is pleased to produce the first Canadian Edition of this important text in a publication that pays homage to the original 1914 edition.

Gertrude Stein was born in 1874 and died in 1946. An American writer who spent most of her life in France, she was a catalyst in the development of modern literature and art. Stein was the author of more than 25 books of experimental writing, many of which were self-published. Tender Buttons was her second published work, and set the foundation for not only her own oeuvre, but for generations of writers to come. She never visited Canada.