An invitation and collection of items from Leonard Cohen’s private memorial service, from the archive of Cohen’s friend Aviva Layton.

Layton was a close, lifelong friend of Leonard Cohen for nearly 60 years, first having met him through in 1954 through her former partner, the Canadian poet and Cohen mentor Irving Layton.  She sold this collection at Julien’s Auctions in 2025, as part of the sale Celebrating Leonard Cohen.

The matte black envelope here contains a folded envelope stamped in red with Cohen’s Order of the Unified Heart symbol, and a folded sheet headed “In Memoriam/Leonard Cohen 1934-2016”.  The text reads “Adam and Lorca Cohen would like to invite you to attend a private memorial service for friends and family only. Sunday, December 11th…”  A second sheet contains the memorial’s order of service, listing the prayers and speakers, while a third sheet has the text of the Mourner’s Kaddish on one side and on the other Psalm 23 and A Psalm of David. There is also a small gold colored metal Order of the Unified Heart lapel pin.

The three sheets and envelope have all been folded to fit in the black envelope.

With the original Julien’s Auction information card, and Recordmecca’s written lifetime guarantee of authenticity,