COCTEAU’S BLOOD OF A POET: THE BOOK MADE FROM THE FILM

COCTEAU, Jean. Le Sang d'un Poète. Film. [Paris]: Robert Marin, (1948). Octavo, original tan paper wrappers, uncut. $350.

Limited first edition (“l’edition originale”) of the book version of Cocteau’s first film, number 1836 of 2900 copies printed, in original wrappers. The copy of artist and experimental filmmaker Emlen Etting, with his owner signature.

In making the 1931 film Le Sang d'un Poète, Cocteau applied his "singular gift for divining truth by means of the fantastic" (Steegmuller, 416). "I didn't know anything about the art of film," admits Cocteau. "I invented it for myself as I went along, and used it like a draughtsman dipping his finger for the first time in India ink and smudging a piece of paper with it" (Steegmuller, 406). This is Cocteau's running description of his first film, a cinematic exploration of "the poet's inner self," illustrated with richly printed photogravures made from movie-stills by Sacha Masour. Not listed by Mahaffey. Signature of Emlen Etting, contemporaneous Philadelphia painter and sculptor who also directed experimental dance films, much in the same vein as Cocteau. Both Cocteau and Etting also produced homoerotic art focused on representing the ideal male form for the publication Der Kreis.

Light sunning to margins of cover. A fine copy, with artistic provenance.