JACOB (Max). Set of 2 pieces addressed to the writer Armand - Lot 131

JACOB (Max). Set of 2 pieces addressed to the writer Armand Salacrou, including an illustrated poetic piece. - Autograph letter signed. Quimper, October 15, 1925. "All panting with surprise, all wracked with remorse, I write to you having lost your address... I said "panting with surprise" and I'm not taking back a word. SO HERE I AM ON A STAGE. I'VE BEEN FEATURED IN A FEW POEMS, AND IN BOOKS UNDER VARIOUS NAMES: NOT ON THE STAGE YET! But tell me, am I going to be called as a witness for the prosecution or the defense, am I going to be present at my skull or will the public prosecutor sentence me to play my part myself? I'm vaguely afraid of being booed... Tell me again! IT'S VERY SERIOUS: A BIRD COMES OUT OF A WOMAN AND I SAY, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, "HERE'S THE HOLY SPIRIT! Do you know that the Gospel is clear: the only sin that will not be forgiven is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Pierre Reverdy must have taught you that. YET THERE IS BLASPHEMY, I BELIEVE - NOT ON YOUR SIDE, WHICH HAD NO KNOWLEDGE... BUT YOU PUT A SERIOUS SIN IN MY MOUTH. What comforts me is that there are as many Maxes at the fair as there are Martins. No one is responsible and there is no sin... It's just a strong and lovable fantasy that we hadn't yet thought of putting into practice. In all eras, attempts have been made to bring the poetry of the time to life on stage. YOU WERE THE FIRST THEATER POET TO BRING THE POETRY OF YOUR TIME TO THE STAGE. What's more, this poetry isn't that of your time, it's yours, and what I said above is wrong... I had a gentleman to convert who didn't have a beautiful soul like yours (the word is from our dear Pierre). What a psychology! And then with these people who are too well brought up, it's terrible because they're reserved, reserved, reserved: you have to guess everything. After first taking him for a vulgar guy, then for an angel soiled by life, I realized on the day of his departure that he was just a well-bred man who remembers every morning that I took him to confession every morning when he was twelve, and who during the day needs money and will do anything to find some. My role was to awaken a sense of honor: it didn't happen by itself... A SMALL COLLECTION OF MY VERSES IS SOON TO BE PUBLISHED BY KRA, LES PENITENTS EN MAILLOTS ROSE. Il n'y a rien de plus sûrement joué que l'injouable, tout le monde se pique au jeu" (4 pp. in-8 carré). - AUTOGRAPH QUATRAIN. On verso of a signed autograph envelope franked January 17, 1925, Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. "Certain cheval-vapeur / in the Cambre woods [near Brussels] / having suddenly taken fright / turns into a hippocampus." In his own hand, Max Jacob accompanied his poem with an original drawing of a human skull.