COCTEAU (Jean). Opium. Paris, Librairie Stock, Delamain et B - Lot 7

Lot n° 7
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600 - 800 EUR
COCTEAU (Jean). Opium. Paris, Librairie Stock, Delamain et B - Lot 7
COCTEAU (Jean). Opium. Paris, Librairie Stock, Delamain et Boutelleau, 1930. In-8 square, (4blanches)-264[of which the first 2 are blank]-(8of which the last 7 are blank)pp. paperback. First edition, one of 33 numbered first copies on japon impérial. Important illustrations by Jean Cocteau: 3 plates out of text reproducing collages; 40 full-page reproductions of his drawings included in the pagination. Journal d'une désintoxication. Jean Cocteau, mourning the death of Raymond Radiguet, began smoking opium regularly in 1924, while socializing with musicologist Louis Laloy, himself addicted to the drug. His meeting with Jacques Maritain and his temporary "conversion" to Catholicism led him to attempt a first detox in 1925, but he almost immediately resumed his narcotic habits, and fell in love with another opium addict, the young writer Jean Desbordes. In December 1928, however, thanks to the financial help of Coco Chanel, he undertook a second detoxification at a luxurious nursing home in Saint-Cloud, where he remained until March 1929. It was an extremely violent experience for him, both physically and psychologically: he wrote a diary about it, Le présent Opium, in which, in addition to clinical observations of the effects of withdrawal on himself, he reflected on the relationship between opium consumption and literary and artistic creation. However, Jean Cocteau would not truly free himself from his addiction until 1940.
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