Memento from the Dreyfus Affair – Copy of the Novel "L'Assommoir" by Émile Zola, with Attached Newspaper Clippings ...

Memento from the Dreyfus Affair – Copy of the Novel "L'Assommoir" by Émile Zola, with Attached Newspaper Clippings, including "J'Accuse" from "L'Aurore" and Dozens of Articles and News Items from the French Media
"L'Assommoir" by Émile Zola. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, [1878]. French. First illustrated edition. A singular copy; pasted to the front and back endpapers of the book are dozens of newspaper clippings – news items, articles, and headlines published in the French media in the course of the Dreyfus affair, including an original copy of Émile Zola's letter "J'Accuse" ["I Accuse"] from the front page of the January 13, 1898 issue of the newspaper "L'Aurore, " in addition to news items reporting on Zola's loss in his libel case, his disappearance from Paris, Alfred Dreyfus's pardon, the issue of indictments against the officers accused by Zola in "J'Accuse, " and other items.
The book "L'Assommoir" represented the first major literary success by the French author Émile Zola. The novel – a story of the downfall of a struggling working-class couple – became immensely popular in France, and earned its creator a reputation as one of the greatest authors of his generation. Less than two years after its earliest publication, the C. Marpon et E. Flammarion publishing company decided to print an illustrated edition of the book, featuring dozens of works by the greatest of French painters and illustrators of that period, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, André Gill, Georges Clairin, and others.
This particular copy of the first illustrated edition was, in all likelihood, prepared by one of Zola's admirers in the course of the Dreyfus affair. At the very beginning of the book, pasted to the front inside binding, is the original newspaper article "J'Accuse" ["I Accuse"] which appeared on the front page of the January 13, 1898 issue of the newspaper "L'Aurore"; it is an open letter to the President of the French Republic, in which Zola accuses the heads of the French army, the War Department, and the Military Tribunal of a gross miscarriage of justice. Pasted onto the following pages are dozens of other newspaper clippings – headlines and news items from the French news media – documenting the tempestuous reactions ignited by Zola's open letter, developments in Zola's personal life in the wake of the letter's publication, and the sequence of events in the unfolding affair, up to and including Dreyfus's acquittal: • News items regarding Zola's loss in his lawsuit for libel against French nationalist Ernest Judet (November 1898). • News item regarding Zola's ouster from the French Legion of Honor (undated). • News brief: A representative of the judicial court pays a visit to Emile Zola's residence to demand payment for the fine he owes, but fails to find him at home (November 1898). • Collection of headlines and news items regarding the annulment of the original sentence and the order for a retrial. • Announcement of the verdict on Dreyfus in the retrial, and the announcement of the issuing of a pardon by French President Emile Loube ten days after this verdict (September 1899). • News item regarding the arrest of General Armand du Paty de Clam, one of the most villainous figures listed in Zola's "J'Accuse" letter. • News item regarding the decision by the French Senate to reinter Emile Zola's remains in the Pantheon (1905). • Additional articles.
The news items and articles are attached at the beginning and end of the book, to the endpapers, flyleaves and half-title. Most are dated in the margins, in handwriting. Pasted alongside the newspaper clippings are a number of handwritten pages with a chronological list of events and developments relevant to the affair as it unfolds (French). The list is accompanied by the dates of the corresponding news items and the names of the newspapers in which they were published. At the very end of the book is a brief handwritten biography of Emile Zola.
Book: [1] f., 466 pp. (including 62 pls.), approx. 27 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor blemishes. Fine binding with leather spine and gilt lettering, slightly worn.
The article "J'Accuse": [1] f. (out of two ff. printed in the issue), approx. 58 cm. Stains. Trimmed edges, with minor damage to text. Folded. Blemishes, minor tears, and small holes to edges and to length of fold lines (with minor damage to text).