Cocteau, Jean, French poet, painter and playwright (1889-1963). "Le mystère de Jean l'oiseleur". Printed manuscript with 6 autograph lines signed.

No place, [not before 1925].

4to. 21 pp. on 22 ff. Phototype with handwritten pagination 1-28 (instead of 36, lacking pp. 5, 6, 8-10, 12, 16, 18, and 21) and 16 (instead of 31) portrait illustrations, of which all are nearly full-page. Partly handcoloured in pastel and pencil by the artist.

 1,500.00

To a Maurice, writing that Cocteau's handwriting here looks faked, which would not express the gratitude he truly feels: "La dessus mon écriture à l'air d'un faux, ce qui ne convient pas pour exprimer ma reconnaissance affectueuse, mon cher Maurice [...]".

"Le mystère de Jean l'oiseleur", a series of 31 self-portraits including short poetic reflections in the margins, was originally mostly created under the influence of opium, during a melancholic retreat after the death of his friend Raymond Radiguet in a hotel called "Welcome" in Villefranche in 1924.

Wrappers slightly browned, fingerstained and with tears in the fold.

Stock Code: BN#61074 Tags: ,