PROCES-ZOLA: OVERZICHT VAN DEN GANSCHEN LOOP VAN DIT PROCES
Amsterdam: N. J. Boon, 1898. Item #37663
1st Edition. Modern Cloth. 8vo. 62 pages ; 18 cm. In Dutch. Title Translates into English as, “The Zola Trial: Overview of the Whole Course During this Trial. ” Note that the author: “Een Dagbladredacteur” simply means “A newspaper editor, ” and is otherwise anonymous. This original Dutch account of Zola’s involvement in the Dreyfus affair was published in the same year that Zola published, “J'accuse, ” in the French papers. "Zola risked his career and more on 13 January 1898, when his ‘J'accuse’ was published on the front page of the Paris daily L'Aurore. The newspaper was run by Ernest Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure. Zola's ‘J'Accuse’ accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and antisemitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. Zola's intention was that he be prosecuted for libel so that the new evidence in support of Dreyfus would be made public. The case, known as the Dreyfus affair, divided France deeply between the reactionary army and Catholic church, on one hand, and the more liberal commercial society, on the other. The ramifications continued for many years; on the 100th anniversary of Zola's article, France's Roman Catholic daily paper, La Croix, apologized for its antisemitic editorials during the Dreyfus affair. As Zola was a leading French thinker and public figure, his letter formed a major turning-point in the affair. Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on 7 February 1898, and was convicted on 23 February and removed from the Legion of Honor" (Wikipedia, 2016) . Includes an illustration of Zola on the title page, and illustrations throughout of Dreyfus, and some of the other key players in the affair. OCLC list just 5 copies worldwide (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Gronigen, Tresoar, and the University of Oxford) , none in the Western Hemisphere, and only 1 outside of the Netherlands. Paper is browning but overall in about very good condition. (Dreyfus-7-1).
Price: $750.00