Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963) Orphée. Paris: Rombaldi, 1944. - In-4, 31.5 x 22 cm: (1 blank f.), 140 pp. (3 last blank ff.), illustrated cover. Leaves, filled cover, ivory parchment-backed folder and illustrated publisher's slipcase. Superb edition of this tragedy in one act and one interval by Jean COCTEAU (1889-1963), printed at 165 copies and illustrated by the author with 40 ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPHIES in black in the text and on full page, among the most beautiful he ever composed for a book. ONE OF THE 25 FIRST EXEMPLIES ON IMPERIAL JAPANESE MANUFACTURING PAPER, this being one of 15 enriched with a black continuation of the illustrations on the same paper. A perfectly preserved copy.