COCTEAU Jean - Lot 121

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Lot n° 121
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COCTEAU Jean - Lot 121
COCTEAU Jean Autograph MANUSCRIT, Le Chiffre sept, 1952; 18 pages in-4 or in-8, and 30 oblong pages in-fol. of a spiral bound sketchbook. Draft of the first draft, and manuscript put to the net of this long poem. It was at Pierre Seghers' request that Cocteau wrote Le Chiffre sept, as he indicates in a note for a reprint: "I had been thinking about writing this poem for a very long time, or at least, to be more precise, that this poem reminded me of writing it. Wanted to be written. A poet is only the vehicle of forces that he contains and that he does not know or that he does not know well. As I had suggested to Pierre Seghers to publish some of my articles, he told me that he would prefer to publish a long poem by me. This is the first time, I imagine, that a publisher has asked a poet for a poem. This is, no doubt, the surprise of this offer that opened the door to the Seven Figure. This poem has a hundred verses. He opposes goldsmith poems. He is the example of a night that wants to go out in broad daylight at all costs." The poem was published in 1952 by Pierre Seghers, with a lithograph by Cocteau on the cover. "Conscious of approaching the death into which he is preparing to enter, Cocteau addresses the living who will remain behind him and tries to make them finally understand what death is, and that they will die not only individually, but collectively........ A poem full of violence and black humour, a poem in which bitterness ceases to be personal and becomes that of the prophet who looks at humanity and curses it before cursing it, Le Chiffre sept, which clearly refers to the Apocalypse, announces the final expansion of the poet's vision" (Jacques Brosse). A. First draft manuscript. It is dated at the end "August 10, 1952". It has 18 pages on 17 in-4 pages (and in-8 for two of them), filled with a tiny pencil and blue ballpoint pen writing. These pages constitute the first version of the poem, with 92 quatrains, and many deletions and corr
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