BUTTS, Mary; COCTEAU, Jean (illus.).

£600 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Imaginary Letters. First edition, limited issue, number 5 of 250 copies on large paper. Imaginary Letters is a fictional tale of gay heartbreak in 1920s Paris, comprised of eight letters written to the mother of a young Russian by one of his infatuated friends. It was the first book Cocteau illustrated, aside from his own publications. Cocteau and Butts met at the Hotel Welcome in the French Riviera. Butts writes of her first impression, "aged & suffering, Latin quicksilver quality. I like him, not at all afraid of him... 'Touches nothing that he does not adorn'. I think that's the phrase. Yes, France's Brightest Boy."

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