Jean Cocteau welcomes Abel Hermant's accession to the French Academy.
"I congratulate the academy. I always find it a pleasure to see things fall into place."
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"I congratulate the academy. I always find it a pleasure to see things fall into place."
Sold
Jean Cocteau (1889.1963)
Autographed letter signed to Abel Hermant.
One page in quarto on onion skin paper.
10 rue d'Anjou [Paris. June 1927]
Cocteau applauds Hermant's accession to the venerable French Academy.
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"My dear friend (allow me this tender irreverence), I congratulate the academy. I always find pleasure in seeing things fall into place. Yours, Jean Cocteau."
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After three failures and six blank elections, Abel Hermant (1862.1950) was elected to the French Academy on June 30, 1927, by 23 votes against 1 for Fernand Gregh and 3 for the Count of Blois, to the seat of René Boylesve.
Convicted on December 15, 1945, for collaboration, Abel Hermant was consequently expelled from the French Academy. Pardoned and released in 1948, he attempted to justify his conduct during the Occupation in The Thirteenth Notebook .
Nearly thirty years later, on March 3, 1955, Cocteau was in turn elected to the prestigious institution, to the seat of Jérôme Tharaud, by 17 votes against 11 for Jérôme Carcopino.