7 - Antonin ARTAUD. Letters from Rodez. Paris, GLM, 1946.

Antonin ARTAUD. Letters from Rodez. Paris, GLM, 1946. In-12, black Jansenist morocco with a long grain, smooth spine, untrimmed, gilt head, cover and spine preserved (modern binding). First edition: limited run of 691 copies, this one on white vellum (no. 176). Famous letters by Antonin Artaud addressed to Henri Parisot, written from the Rodez asylum. (Coron, Les Éditions GLM, bibliography, no. 227.) Long signed autograph inscription: To Mr. Bernard Lucas because the time / of thought / is golden / but not the / irrepressible needs / that the mind has / concealed / Antonin Artaud A very interesting provenance: that of Bernard Lucas, the manager of the famous Bar Vert at 10 rue Jacob, the first true American bar in Paris’s Sixth Arrondissement. According to Boris Vian, “Lucas [was] an extraordinary bartender; he [had] rare books and a classical music collection.” Above all, he attracted intellectuals, painters, and publishers (such as Bertelé) to the bar. It was at the Bar Vert that Antonin Artaud, a regular patron, dictated *La Culture indienne* and *Ci-gît* to Paule Thévenin in November 1946—presumably around the same time he gave his *Lettres de Rodez* to Bernard Lucas. (Vian, *Manuel de Saint Germain des Prés*, p. 124.—Thévenin, *Antonin Artaud, ce Désespéré qui vous parle*, pp. 86–87.)