SEM (RENÉ-GEORGES GOURSAT, dit) (1863-1934)

Les Onotographes (Onoto feathers). 1910. In-8, leaves in a green, cold-stamped, green leatherette slipcase with flaps, titled, illustrated with 10 plates. Sem, a critical observer, wittily captures the tics and disguises of the World and Half-World he portrays in his albums. Thus, under his pencil, "To extol the merits of his stylographs, Onoto calls on celebrities of the time. Here we see the Duchesse d'Uzès, Edmond Rostand, Auguste Rodin, in the form of malicious caricatures that they dedicate to Onoto in their finest handwriting" (in Pages d'Or de l'Édition Publicitaire, Forney, 1988). The personalities pinned are: Edmond Rostand, Auguste Rodin, Baron Henri de Rothschild, Mounet-Sully, Henry Bernstein, Jean de Reszke, M. Messager, A. Capus, Duchesse d'Uzès-Mortemart, Maurice Ferraudy. Minor wear, torn cord