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Félicien Champsaur's collection of short stories, Entrée de clowns (1886) features a multitude of illustrations by almost three dozen artists. Few fin-de-siècle works were illustrated as extensively. Some scholars consider this work as representative of an aesthetic transition involving a more integrated fusion of graphic art with literature. But, while the title promises a narrative with the circus as its milieu, the composition is quite non-circus related, assuming strictly formal values through the iconography. In the context of the title, therefore, the illustrations could only serve a performative function, an idea supported by the preface's claims to reproduce a circus program's organization with a topsy-turvy entrance of clowns introducing each number. A closer xamination of Champsaur's use of illustrations in this collection reveals, however, that he seized on and exploited an avant-garde icon (the clown) and its iconography, banking on familiarity with this icon in order to manufacture an avant-garde persona for himself, and capitalizing on marketing strategies to promote and sell his work. [author summary]