JEAN COCTEAU’S PICASSO, INSCRIBED WITH TWO LINES OF VERSE AND AN ORIGINAL DRAWING
COCTEAU, Jean. Picasso (cover title: Médecines, Peintures, Picasso). Arcueil: Innothéra Laboratoire Chantereau, circa 1956. Slim octavo, original paper wrappers; pp. [14]. $2600.
Later edition of Cocteau’s Picasso, inscribed on the title page, “Le feu jaillit de l’eau, La mer et l’oiseau, amities, Jean Cocteau.” With an original full-page pencil and blue wash drawing of a bird rising from the sea.
Jean Cocteau first met Picasso in 1914. “As he remarked in later years, if Stravinsky was a great encounter in his life, Picasso was the great encounter” (Emboden, 23). First published in 1923 in a limited edition of 100 copies, this is Cocteau’s brief overview of Picasso’s work, with 14 plates of his paintings, re-published as Number 84 in the Innothéra series.
Very minor soiling to wrappers. A near-fine copy.