RAOUL DE NAJAC. TALMA. THEATRE. DRAMATURGE. MIME.... Lot 8

RAOUL DE NAJAC. TALMA. THEATRE. DRAMATURGE. MIME. BRITTANY. LAUGIER, Adolphe. Notice sur Talma, dedicated to the Comédie française. Paris, Hautecoeur, Bezou, Pelissier, Barba, 1827. Half late eggplant morocco, in-8 format, spine ribbed, gilt fleurons, marbled paper endpapers. (3)-136 pp, facsimile, attractive vignette on title page, untrimmed. Second edition of this unusual work on the great 19th-century actor, from the library of Raoul de Najac, with its handsome engraved ex libris, illustrated and bearing his coat of arms, pasted on the first endpaper. A whimsical character, author, actor and creator of pantomimes, as well as editor-in-chief of the newspaper "La Decade", Count Raoul de Najac (1856-1915) was elected Republican mayor of Pont-l'Abbé, where he paraded perched on the back of a camel from Siberia... A colorful socialite of the stage, he was a "Republican count and the most singular mayor of Cornouaille". The ex libris is engraved and signed (lower right) by Stern (Parisian engravers since the 19th century) and features a beautiful coastal bird (probably a cormorant). It should be noted that Najac was particularly fond of birds, and in 1882 wrote a book in which he used their voices to persiflate on human foibles, "Lettres d'oiseaux". Some foxing and binding slightly rubbed. Expert : Mme Aude de Sèvedavy.