Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963) - Lot 49

Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963) 4 L.A.S., Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat January 1959, and March 11, 1959; 6pages in-8 on Santo-Sospir letterhead, and 1page in-8. January 19. "I'd better tell you the truth, here I am on my back for X amount of time and forbidden to write to anyone, to see anyone. It took this tragedy to get Picasso on the phone. He cut himself off from his best friends and his business. You've probably forgotten that I wrote you some poems for your catalog - something I don't do for anyone else in the world. The daily blood tests are wearing me out, and it will be several weeks before I get my red blood cells back. I'm half alive"... January 26. "Lightning struck me and California. These things happen. I'm lying on my back for weeks and Jacqueline is sick again. Picasso ghosts between two residences, one where he's almost gone, the other where he's not yet, prowling furiously in no-man's-land. Your beautiful ponds console me"... January 31st. "Well done my dear Lucien. May the pointy-nosed Cockerel Man and the feathered Porthos bring you luck. Beware of my insect-like handwriting and send me a proof of the texts IT'S ESSENTIAL. My river of the dead flows into your ponds and sometimes I close my eyes, open them and find myself in a hole of ice under barbed wire of branches and brambles. I embrace you. My journey on my back threatens to be a long one." March 11. "If you're going to show the ponds, try to show lots of them, like Monet's water lilies suite. This will spare you any picturesqueness. I'm happy with your success, and happy with the resistance that makes it solid and serious for the future".... Attached are a telegram from Cocteau (April 19), and 17 letters from Lucien CLERGUE to Cocteau (double carbon, one minute autogr.), January-April 1959. CCC p. 62-68. Lots 24 to 68 are sold by provisional auction with the option of reunion.