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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
[DREYFUS, ALFRED -- AFFAIR]. ZOLA, Emile. La Vérité en Marche, L'Affaire Dreyfus. Paris: Bibliothèque-Charpentier, 1901.
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[DREYFUS, ALFRED -- AFFAIR]. ZOLA, Emile. La Vérité en Marche, L'Affaire Dreyfus. Paris: Bibliothèque-Charpentier, 1901.
8o. Half-title. Later 20th-century half cloth marbled. Provenance: Marguerite Van de Viele (1857-1941), Belgian novelist (presentation inscription from the author).
FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY ZOLA on the half-title: "á Marguerite van de Viele son dévoué confrère Emil Zola." A collection of Zola's explosive essays on the Dreyfus Affair, published in Le Figaro and L'Aurore between 1897 and 1900, including his most famous, his "J'Accuse!" essay, addressed to the president of France, Félix Faure (pp.73-93). Originally published on the front page of L'Aurore on 13 January 1898, Zola deliberately provoked the government into suing him for libel by accusing the military of acquitting "on orders" the spy Marie Charles Esterhazy--the man for whose crimes Alfred Dreyfus had been falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to a virtual death sentence on Devil's Island. The army knew that Esterhazy was the guilty man, yet, incredibly, they protected him and were content to allow Dreyfus to rot in captivity. "It is my duty to speak up," Zola writes, "I will not be an accessory to the fact...France, the great and liberal cradle of the rights of man, will die of anti-Semitism if it is not cured of it...Let them dare to summon me before a court of law! Let the inquiry be held in broad daylight! I am waiting."
8o. Half-title. Later 20th-century half cloth marbled. Provenance: Marguerite Van de Viele (1857-1941), Belgian novelist (presentation inscription from the author).
FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY ZOLA on the half-title: "á Marguerite van de Viele son dévoué confrère Emil Zola." A collection of Zola's explosive essays on the Dreyfus Affair, published in Le Figaro and L'Aurore between 1897 and 1900, including his most famous, his "J'Accuse!" essay, addressed to the president of France, Félix Faure (pp.73-93). Originally published on the front page of L'Aurore on 13 January 1898, Zola deliberately provoked the government into suing him for libel by accusing the military of acquitting "on orders" the spy Marie Charles Esterhazy--the man for whose crimes Alfred Dreyfus had been falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to a virtual death sentence on Devil's Island. The army knew that Esterhazy was the guilty man, yet, incredibly, they protected him and were content to allow Dreyfus to rot in captivity. "It is my duty to speak up," Zola writes, "I will not be an accessory to the fact...France, the great and liberal cradle of the rights of man, will die of anti-Semitism if it is not cured of it...Let them dare to summon me before a court of law! Let the inquiry be held in broad daylight! I am waiting."