IRIBE (Paul) - COCTEAU (Jean). - Lot 155

IRIBE (Paul) - COCTEAU (Jean). Le Mot. Paris, November 28, 1914-July 1, 1915. - 22 folio issues, 444 x 282. Leaves, in transparent pockets, red half cloth folder with corners, modern red chagrin title label on front cover, ribbon ties. Complete collection of this fine anti-German satirical and patriotic review, edited by Paul IRIBE in collaboration with Jean COCTEAU. It comprises 20 issues published at the start of the Great War, from November 28, 1914 to July 1, 1915. Each issue, comprising 2 to 6 leaves, is illustrated with black and colored compositions by Paul Iribe, Jean Cocteau under the pseudonym Jim, Sem (no. 3), Raoul Dufy (nos. 10 and 13), Léon Bakst (no. 18), Albert Gleizes or André Lhote (no. 20). With France's entry into the war in 1914, the young poet Cocteau "created an avant-garde magazine with his friend Paul Iribe: Le Mot, which ran for twenty issues between November 28, 1914 and July 1, 1915. Under a satirical guise, the unusual 44 x 28 cm format of this fold-out sheet was a graphic and literary response (albeit a modest one) to the conflict raging in the trenches. With this anti-German magazine, the reformed Cocteau became involved in the "sacred union" called for by Raymond Poincaré. Paul Iribe designed covers remarkable for their perception of the conflict." (Cahiers Jean Cocteau [online]). "The short-lived existence of Le Mot easily demonstrates that the courageous journal was unable to meet its ambitious challenge: to interest both a vast public and the soldiers themselves, to whom several hundred free subscriptions were sent. We can deplore it, but we can hardly be surprised: "Le Mot", even if it "speaks the truth", is not a trench paper! It's aimed at an elite..." (Raymond Bachollet, in: Le Collectionneur français, N° 197 of January 1983, page 5). This set includes all issues from one to twenty, plus the second edition of issue one and the censored cover of issue 8. Tears on one edge of the first issue. Some foxing to issue 16.