COCTEAU JEAN (1889-1963). CORRECTED PROOFS for the Potomak, "Definitive Edition,…
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COCTEAU JEAN (1889-1963).

CORRECTED PROOFS for the Potomak, "Definitive Edition," [1924]; 8 folded broadsides (240 x 160 mm.), numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, and 11 (the end is missing; fragile paper, splits at folds and fraying). Corrected plates for the definitive edition of Potomak. Six years after the original edition, Jean Cocteau established the definitive text of his Potomak, published in 1919 at the Société littéraire de France. This second edition, partly original, was published by Stock-Delamain under the title Le Potomak 1913-1914 preceded by a prospectus 1916. The title page has been pasted in at the top, and Cocteau has mentioned in his own hand "Édition définitive", changed the name of the publisher ("Stock"), and indicated a handwritten nomenclature to be consulted in order to establish the list of his works. On these sheets, we note more than 370 corrections in black ink in Cocteau's hand: typographical indications, words or sentences modified, added or deleted. Cocteau was always looking for perfection. A small photograph of J. Cocteau is attached, and 5 cards of openings of exhibitions or wishes. Plus an autograph MANUSCRIT [for La Fin du Potomak, 1939] (3 pages in-4 in pencil). Drafts for a discarded chapter of the novel concerning the student Dargelos. These pages of first draft, with erasures and corrections, are related to the chapter "Cadence" of La Fin du Potomak (1939), which Cocteau suppressed at the time of the reedition of 1947, perhaps for its disturbing aspect. The drafts are related to two sequences. In the first, we see Dargelos, during the vacations, in Brittany, killing chickens: "He immobilized the beast between his powerful thighs. With wings and screams, with yellow and red spasms, he brandished a knife and plunged it into the throat. [A clear red blood was spurting everywhere. crossed out] Then, he ran to the waves. He would jump in, thin and dark, splattered with blood. The second shows Dargelos playing the role of Athalie, with "the air of a tiger under his clothes"...

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COCTEAU JEAN (1889-1963).

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