Fine Books and Manuscripts

2 pages, 8vo, bifolium, on The Drake Hotel stationery, a few minor creases, two short tears touching letters. Stein writes to Marcella Burns Hahner, who established the Marshall Field's book department in 1914: "Thanks so much for the books you sent me, one I like a lot and the others I have not yet read, Mr. Harcourt spoke so warmly of you that it seems very natural to find you so kind and considerate as you have shown yourself to be and I look forward to our really meeting." Hahner "ruled her department like a feudal lord, dictated literary taste to Chicago's carriage trade, entertained the likes of Somerset maugham at tea in her office, revealed a heart of gold to a select few, and turned in $750,000 in yearly sales" (Susan Porter Benson, Counter Cultures, 1987, p.51).