# Is "Tender Buttons" by Gertrude Stein a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein (Claire Marie, 1914) is identified by: True first is Claire Marie (New York), 1914 — the vanity imprint of Donald Evans — Stein's second book, published May 1914. US Claire Marie (1914) is the sole true first; there is no UK edition of the original setting.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is Claire Marie (New York), 1914 — the vanity imprint of Donald Evans — Stein's second book, published May 1914
- Issued in yellow paper-covered boards with a circular two-tone green paste-on title label to the front board; octavo, 78 pp, in three sections (Objects, Food, Rooms)
- Print run is reported at roughly 1,000 copies (figure not firmly double-sourced, so treat as reported)
- A slip of Stein's own errata survives at Yale but was never incorporated, so no 'corrected' first-edition state exists
- Publisher imprint reads Claire Marie
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gertrude Stein |
| Publisher | Claire Marie |
| Year | 1914 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first is Claire Marie (New York), 1914 — the vanity imprint of Donald Evans — Stein's second book, published May 1914 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first is Claire Marie (New York), 1914 — the vanity imprint of Donald Evans — Stein's second book, published May 1914. Issued in yellow paper-covered boards with a circular two-tone green paste-on title label to the front board; octavo, 78 pp, in three sections (Objects, Food, Rooms). Print run is reported at roughly 1,000 copies (figure not firmly double-sourced, so treat as reported). A slip of Stein's own errata survives at Yale but was never incorporated, so no 'corrected' first-edition state exists.

## Is this the true first?
US Claire Marie (1914) is the sole true first; there is no UK edition of the original setting. 'First thus' trap: the City Lights Corrected Centennial Edition (2014) and mid-century resettings (Sun & Moon, Dover, etc.) are modern editions, not the 1914 first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue; distinguish the 1914 Claire Marie sheets from all later resettings by the yellow boards and the circular two-tone green label.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tender Buttons* by Gertrude Stein a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tender-buttons
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.