COCTEAU JEAN: (1889-1963) French poet, playwright, novelist, artist, filmmaker and critic. Autograph Note, unsigned, one page, 8vo, n.p. (Paris) n.d. (c.1919), in French. To the verso of a printed telegram form (incomplete) from the Hotel Meurice in Paris Cocteau has penned the name and address of a new young friend, ´Monsieur Raymond Radiguet, 4 avenue Charles 7, Parc de Saint Maur, Seine´. At the head of the page appears a telephone number (´Elysee 08-74´) in Cocteau´s hand, presumably that of Radiguet. Cocteau initially made a mistake in the address (which he would later know by heart) and corrected his initial number 7 to 4. A significant autograph note (which was originally folded three times, to fit neatly into a wallet or pocket) which most likely dates from one of the first encounters between Cocteau and Radiguet. VG

Raymond Radiguet (1903-1923) French novelist and poet.

Radiguet spent most of his adolescence in the family home on Avenue Charles VII in the heart of Parc-Saint-Maur. The young writer first met Jean Cocteau in 1919 and, despite their age difference (Cocteau was 30 at the time, and already established as a poet and playwright), the two men shared an intimate and creative partnership that defined the artistic circles of early 20th-century France. Radiguet´s life was tragically cut short at the age of 20 when he succumbed to typhoid fever in 1923, which he contracted after having taken a trip with Cocteau. Devasted by Radiguet´s death, Cocteau withdrew from public life, spending weeks in mourning.