194 - COCTEAU (Jean),

COCTEAU (Jean), 1889–1963. Manuscript of an apparently unpublished poem, originally intended for *Requiem* but omitted from the final version published by Gallimard in 1962. Cocteau addresses it to “Louis,” noting: “Here is one of the interludes that break up the stanzas of *Requiem*.” The text is titled “Le Dénicheur de nids.” The date at the top of the page is April 7, 1958, but the signature at the end is followed by the date 1959… 1 p. in-4 in blue ink. Another manuscript of this “Halte” is preserved in the Jean Cocteau collection at the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris (MS-FS-05-0153), among the preparatory manuscripts for the *Requiem*. However, this “Halte” does not appear to have been included in the final version of the Requiem published by Gallimard in 1962, and we have found no separate publication of it. A handwritten note in pencil on the reverse reads: “You will surely be the only person in this world to whom I will give this excerpt from the Requiem.” Enclosed is a handwritten letter “Jean Cocteau *,” unsigned, dated April 17, 1954, to the writer and painter Michel Hérubel (1927–2007), 1 p. in-4 in blue ink: “[…] I have never been lonelier than in that Cannes where I agreed to go to pay tribute to my solitude. […].” Also included is a beautiful autograph letter signed by Jacques CHARDONNE (1884–1968), signed “Boutelleau,” to Jean Cocteau, La Frette, January 19, 1929, 1 p., in-4, in black ink: “[…] I believe you will always be in a hell of beautiful flames, because you were born for paradise. […] We are waiting for your drawings and your ‘notes.’ I know they are the nightingale’s notes. […]”