Cocteau, Jean ~ Opium : The Diary of an Addict

George Allen & Unwin, London : 1933

The First UK printing published by George Allen & Unwin, London in 1933. 8vo., bright green publisher's cloth, lettered with decorative borders in red to spine, and with figure in red to the upper board; together in the unclipped green printed wrapper (correctly priced '5s. net' to the front flap); with 27 illustrations by the author throughout in line; THE BOOK is in Very Good ++ condition, sunned to the edges as usually encountered, and lightly pushed to the spine tips; spotting to the text-block and end-papers, with sole light encroachment onto the edges of the pages in places due to the cheap quality of paper stock used ; the Very Good++ WRAPPER lightly toned along the backstrip and folds with some light spotting; small losses at the spine ends and folds, leading to some closed tears along the foot of the spine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. With the illustrations made while the author was partially under the influence of opium. The multi-faceted poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (1889–1963) was a highly-influential member of both the Surrealist and Dadaist movements within the 20th century. Following the sudden death of his friend and confidant Radiguet in 1923, Cocteau famously turned to opium as an outlet, a habit which greatly changed his literary output, in particular with regard to such works as 'Les Enfants Terribles', which was written while he was in rehabilitation. The present work documents his recovery and subsequent withdrawals, and are accompanied by a series of strange and disconcerting images involving figures, many missing limbs or eyes. "These drawings and notes date from the clinic at St. Cloud" he writes in his opening lines, "the drawings which follow might be described as lingering cries of pain, while the notes are the stages in the transition from a state considered abnormal to a state considered normal". The book also includes references to some of Cocteau's closest friends, including reminiscences of Nijinsky and Marcel Proust, as well as insights into the creative process behind some of his best-loved works. An extremely elusive title to find in collectible condition.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET: Very Good++