Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: A Critical Edition

Preface to the Edition

This publication presents a critical edition of Anita Loos’s novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925). By “critical edition,” I mean a representation of the work that takes into account its historical production and reception and the major variants of the work in different historical documents in order to provide a reliable text and textual apparatus that supports further scholarship and teaching. Therefore, this edition, first and foremost, presents a clean-reading text that can be used by those who wish to read a reliable version of the novel with minimal interference, but it also provides views of the variants between the two primary published 1925 editions of Blondes (in magazine and book formats). Readers will also find biographies of Loos and illustrator Ralph Barton, historical overviews of the two publishers, book reviews, interactive maps, and other historical context that will help them pursue interpretations of the work. Finally, the edition provides technical information about its construction and an editor’s introduction that frames the choices made in the creation of the edition. These components can be explored using the navigation guide on this page or through the Table of Contents menu at the top left of the screen. This edition was peer-reviewed through ModNets in the fall of 2024 and awarded its peer-review seal, and I am grateful for the feedback from those reviewers and other readers of portions of this project for helping improve it.

Daniel G. Tracy, Editor

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Editor’s Introduction



Read about the conceptualization of the edition and its significance for scholars, students, and casual readers.

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Text and Illustrations



Read the novel or examine the variants in the text and visual presentation between the two original published editions.

Go to the Text and Illustrations of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Critical Context



Read about the production and reception of Blondes, explore maps of locations in the text, read about historical references, and read biographies of writer Anita Loos and illustrator Ralph Barton.

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Production of the Edition



Read information about the technical production of and contributors to the edition.

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