228 résultats
188788816Paris: Au cabaret Le Chat noir 1887. Fine. Au cabaret Le Chat noir Paris 3 septembre 1887 31 x 45 cm en feuillets First edition one of the rare copies printed on laid paper. This four-page issue features a comic strip by Louis-Christian known as Döes: ""La bonne galette"". Includes literary contributions by Francisque Sarcey on ""La Terre"" by Emile Zola Charles Cros ""Psaume CCCCXXXIV"" Alfred Béjot ""Épitre à Allais"" Georges Auriol ""Malabar"" among others. One tear with loss and some light staining to the margins of the covers. Le Chat Noir was a weekly review founded by Rodolphe Salis and Emile Goudeau published from 1882 to 1897 intended to promote the famous cabaret of the same name and to serve as its chronicle. It featured the texts recited during performances and constitutes an important literary and artistic record of late 19th-century bohemian life and the unique vibrancy of Paris during that era. Au cabaret Le Chat noir unknown
189621947Paris & Bruxelles Brussels: SeghersA. Manceaux 1896. Fine. Seghers A. Manceaux Paris & Bruxelles Brussels 1896 16.50 x 25.50 cm broché First edition of which no deluxe copies are mentioned. Spine split one joint cracked at head and foot otherwise a rare and handsome copy. SeghersA. Manceaux unknown
187072935Paris: Ernest Ladrey 1870. Fine. Ernest Ladrey Paris 1870 6.50 x 10.50 cm une photographie Very rare original albumen photograph in carte-de-visite format mounted on yellow cardboard with red border. Manuscript annotation on verso. The address at Passage des Princes on the back of the photograph indicates that the photograph was taken before 1875. Handsome copy of this photograph of the writer with his lorgnette and beard. Ernest Ladrey unknown
190073358Londres London: London Stereoscopic Company 1900. Fine. London Stereoscopic Company Londres London 1900 10.70 x 16.60 cm une photographie au format carte cabinet Handsome original photographic portrait of Emile Zola in cabinet card format period print on albumen paper mounted on cardboard from the London Stereoscopic Company and taken by an unidentified photographer. The writer poses there rosette of the Legion of Honor at his buttonhole. Condemned for defamation after the publication of his famous ""J'Accuse!"" on the front page of L'Aurore and to escape prison Zola secretly fled to London on July 18 1898. On July 26 1898 the Legion of Honor was withdrawn from him. A snub to this France that did not understand him this ""rosette"" photograph was most likely taken after his removal from the order of the Legion of Honor. Exceptional state of conservation. London Stereoscopic Company unknown
189822226Paris: La Revue Blanche 1898. Fine. La Revue Blanche Paris 1er Mars 1898 17.50 x 26 cm broché First edition presented under double cream wrappers one of the rare copies on Holland paper from a very small print run whose number is not specified the only deluxe copies. Contributions by G. Kahn J. de Mitty J.P. Jacobsen on the plague in Bergamo tribute from the Revue Blanche to Emile Zola for the condemnation he faced in the verdict of February 23 1898 regarding the Dreyfus affair. Minor marginal worming without consequence to the covers of the double wrappers handsome copy. Rare. La Revue Blanche unknown
188720546Paris: Extrait de La Revue des deux mondes 1887. Fine. Extrait de La Revue des deux mondes Paris 1887 15.50 x 25 cm agrafé First edition. Plain paper cover. Rare. Extrait de La Revue des deux mondes unknown
190014035Paris: Imp. A. Eyméoud 1900. Fine. Imp. A. Eyméoud Paris s. d. circa 1900 11 x 16.50 cm agrafé First edition. Three small marginal lacks to the slightly faded front cover handsome interior condition. Rare. Imp. A. Eyméoud unknown
190016528Paris: Imp. A. Eyméoud 1900. Fine. Imp. A. Eyméoud Paris s. d. circa 1900 11 x 17 cm agrafé First edition. A good copy. Imp. A. Eyméoud unknown
187590869Paris: Ernest Leroux 1875. Fine. Ernest Leroux Paris 1875 1879 12.2 x 11.8 cm Broché Second edition the dedication to Pierre Laffitte is dated 1879. A study of madness from a positivist perspective based on the work of Auguste Comte. The dedicatee Pierre Laffitte was the editor of the review ""Le Positivisme"". Spine cracked with small losses occasional foxing and a horizontal crease at the foot of the upper cover small marginal tears on the cover firts cover reattached. With a fine signed presentation inscription from Emile François Eugène Sémérie to Émile Zola on the half-title: ""A Mr. Émile Zola. Sémérie d'Aix"" the final word underlined. The close connections between positivism and naturalism the literary doctrine developed in the 1860s1880s are well known: positivist philosophy the observation of reality and the primacy of experience influenced naturalist writers in their concern to depict reality with strict objectivity. Zola made an essential contribution to the movement with his study ""Roman expérimental"" 1880. Ernest Leroux unknown
1898ZolaDreyfusAffair1<p><strong>AFFAIRE DREYFUS ZOLA Émile 1840-1902</strong></p><p>Autograph letter signed " Z " to Alice Mirbeau<br />N.p Addlestone Tuesday 30th August 1898 4 p. in-8° on laid paper<br />Central fold reinforced with Japan paper light browning lower margin stain on second folio see scans</p><p><strong>Letter from exile testifying to the writer's unwavering commitment to the Dreyfus affair</strong></p><p><em>" Je vous remercie de votre bonne lettre chère madame et amie et surtout je vous remercie de l'affection dont vous entourez ma chère femme qui a grand besoin d'être aimée dans les cruelles circonstances qu'elle traverse.<br />Vous me parlez avec un grand bon sens et une parfaite amitié de mon séjour ici. Moi aussi je pense depuis longtemps que je pourrais sans danger y faire connaître ma présence et y prendre une attitude que je saurais rendre utile et <strong>digne. Mais il y a aussi l'autre parti celui de rentrer en France et d'y faire mon devoir jusqu'au bout. Je ne puis donc encore me prononcer j'attends l'avis de nos amis et j'attends aussi les évènements</strong>. De toutes façons d'ailleurs je ne puis guère rentrer avant la fin d'octobre car je désire que la chambre soit réunie et qu'on ait liquidé toutes les autres affaires pendantes.<br />Vous me touchez infiniment en m'offrant vos services dévoués ici et même à Paris. Ici le mieux est que je vive encore ignoré travaillant en paix dans une solitude dont personne le connaît le chemin. Mon travail que j'ai repris régulièrement m'est un grand repos. À Paris certes si j'avais besoin de vous je serais fort heureux de me confier à votre dévouement et à votre discrétion.<br /><strong>Les infamies s'entassent cela devait être. C'est avec un serrement douloureux de cœur que je songe à la pure victime</strong></em> <strong><em>qu'ils vont encore condamner ; et cela ne me donne qu'une passion celle du sacrifice la volonté de m'immoler moi-même.<br /></em></strong><em>Embrassez bien tendrement votre cher mari. Je sais tout ce qu'il fait pour vous et j'en suis profondément ému.<br />Merci encore chère madame et amie et mille bonnes affections.<br />Z "</em></p><p>Convicted definitively on appeal on July 18 1898 by the Versailles court Zola left France to return to England. His open letter "J'accuse…!" published in <em>L'Aurore</em> on January 13 1898 earned the writer a fine of 3000 francs and 1 year of imprisonment. Committed body and soul to the defense of Captain Dreyfus Zola was forced into exile by Clemenceau and Labori and at the same time into silence. Kept away from the Parisian furnace prey to all the passions surrounding the affair Zola sometimes lets glimpse from England like this letter a share of frustration at no longer being at the center of the chessboard.<br />Regarding the support he received from his close friends the writer could count on that of Octave Mirbeau a Dreyfusard from the very beginning. The latter whose role has long been underestimated was one of the most influential defenders of Captain Dreyfus and Zola. After taking a public stand for the first time in an article in the Journal of 28 November 1897 two days after Zola's first article it was Mirbeau who in July 1898 paid out of his own pocket the entire fine to which Zola was sentenced on appeal in Versailles. Two weeks after Zola's conviction he wrote in L'Aurore on 2 August 1898:<br />" Will not professors philosophers scholars writers artists all those in whom truth resides from all parts of France finally free their souls from the terrible weight that oppresses them Faced with these daily challenges to their genius their humanity their spirit of justice their courage will they not finally understand that they have a great duty… that of defending the heritage of ideas of science of glorious discoveries of beauty with which they have enriched the country of which they are the guardians… "</p><p>We know the letter of support that Alice Mirbeau committed to her husband sent to Zola on August 24 and to which the writer replied above: " Despite the pain I feel in knowing how much you suffer from your isolation I persist in believing that you must find the strength to wait and that at no cost should the end be hastened. Certainly prison where all those who love you could come and embrace you would be sweeter for you and for your friends but you must not abandon everything especially now that there is a new victim on the eve of being so harshly struck. … I am very happy that you have resumed your work it will console you a little because you must persist … If I can do you any pleasure soften your captivity a little by a few steps for anything that you would like to be done use me I beg you I put my tenderness at your service and I will be happy to use myself to be agreeable to you…"</p><p>At the time he wrote this letter Zola did not yet know it but the affair was about to change on this August 30. After having completed the Dreyfus file with a piece that he himself had forged Commander Henry confessed after his forgery was discovered by Captain Cuignet military attaché to Minister Cavaignac. Taken immediately to detention at Mont Valérien Henry committed suicide the next day in his cell his throat slit with a razor. Already imprisoned at La Santé in July 1898 Picquart was again imprisoned at Cherche-Midi prison on September 22 proving Zola's prediction right.</p><p><u>Provenance:<br /></u>Collection particulière</p><p><u>Bibliography:<br /></u><em>Correspondance</em> éd. Maurice et Denise Leblond Bernouard 1929 t. II p. 811<br /><em>Correspondance</em> t. IX éd. du CNRS p. 285-286 n°186</p>
186782102Paris:: E. Dentu 1867. First edition. handsome later half morocco and marbled sides t.e.g.; elaborately gilt spine. Some extremely light marginal foxing to the margins of the text; original etching of Olympia and the portrait fine; binding fine. . 8vo. Accompagnee d'un portrait d'Ed. Manet par Bracquemond et d'une eau-forte d'Ed. Manet d'apres Olympia. E. Dentu, unknown
1874Flo16<p><strong>ZOLA FLAUBERT Gustave 1821-1880</strong></p><p>Autograph letter signed " Gve Flaubert " to Émile Zola<br />N.p.n.d Croisset 26th May 1874 1 p. in-8° on blue laid paper<br />Tear on fold old trace of previous mounting</p><p>And</p><p>Autograph letter signed " Gve Flaubert " to Émile Zola<br />Croisset près Rouen 3rd June Croisset 3 juin 1874 4 pp. in-8° on laid paper<br />Three words underlines by Alexandrine Zola old trace of previous mounting</p><p><strong>Set of two letters on <em>La Conquête de Plassans</em> forming undoubtedly Flaubert's most detailed critique of a novel by his friend Zola</strong></p><p>First letter</p><p><em>" Mardi soir.</em><br /><strong><em>C'est très fort ! mon brave homme ! Je l'ai lu tout d'une haleine & j'en suis étourdi.</em></strong><br /><em>Dans 8 jours je le relirai lentement ! p</em>ou<em>r voir si j'ai raison d'être enthousiasmé.</em><br /><em>J'ai reçu un g</em>ran<em>d choc comme d'une machine électrique.</em><br /><em>Vous ne serez pas poursuivi. <strong>La poésie vous sauvera</strong>. Mais je comprends les terreurs du jeune Charpentier.</em><br /><em>à dimanche une longue bavette sur votre truculent bouquin.</em><br /><em>tout à vous</em><br /><em>Gve Flaubert</em><br /><em>Je trouve Barbané très médiocre de fond & de forme" quoi qu'on dise ". Celui-là par exemple je ne le relirai pas. Je le sais. "</em></p><p>Second letter</p><p><em>" <strong>Je l'ai lue " La Conquête de Plassans " lue tout d'une haleine comme on avale un bon verre de vin puis ruminée – & maintenant mon cher ami j'en peux causer sciemment.</strong></em><br /><strong><em>J'avais peur après Le Ventre de Paris que vous ne vous enfonciez dans le système dans le parti pris. Mais non ! Allons vous êtes un gaillard ! et votre dernier livre est un crâne bouquin !</em></strong><br /><em>Peut-être manque-t-il d'un milieu proéminent d'une scène centrale chose qui n'arrive jamais dans la nature et peut-être aussi y a-t-il un peu trop de dialogues dans les parties accessoires ! Voilà en vous épluchant bien tout ce que je trouve à dire – de défavorable – mais quelle observation ! quelle profondeur ! quelle poigne !</em><br /><em>Ce qui me frappe c'est d'abord le ton général du livre la cette férocité de passion sous une surface bonhomme. Cela est fort mon vieux très fort râblé & bien portant.</em><br /><strong><em>Quel joli bourgeois que ce Mouret avec sa curiosité son avarice sa résignation p. 183-184 et son aplatissement ! L'abbé Faujas est sinistre et grand – un vrai directeur ! Comme il manie bien la femme comme il s'empare bien habilement de celle-là en la prenant par la charité puis en la brutalisant !</em></strong><br /><em>Quant à elle Marthe je ne saurais vous dire combien elle me semble réussie & l'art que je trouve au développement de son caractère ou plutôt de sa maladie. J'ai parti surtout remarqué les pages 194 215 et 227 261 264 267. – <strong>Son état hystérique son aveu final p. 350 & sq. est une merveille. Comme le ménage se dissout bien ! Comme elle se détache de tout et en même temps son moi son fond. Il y a là une science de dissolution profonde.</strong></em><br /><em>J'oublie de vous parler des Trouche – qui sont adorables comme canailles – & de l'abbé Bourette</em> Bourrette<em> exquis avec sa peur & sa sensibilité.<br />La vie de province les jardins qui se regardent le ménage Paloque les Rastoil & les parties de raquette parfait parfait.<br /><strong>Vous avez des détails excellents des phrases des mots qui sont des bonheurs</strong> page 17 " … la tonsure comme une cicatrice " 181 " j'aimerais mieux qu'il allât voir les femmes " 89 " Mouret avait bourré le poêle " etc.<br />Et le Cercle de la jeunesse ! Voilà une invention vraie.<br />J'ai noté en marge bien d'autres endroits.<br />– Les détails physiques qu'Olympe donne sur son frère – la fraise<br />– La mère de l'abbé prête à devenir sa maquerelle 152 – et son coffre ! 338.<br />– <strong>L'âpreté du prêtre qui repousse les mouchoirs de sa pauvre amante parce que cela sent " une odeur de femme "</strong>.<br />– " Au fond des sacristies le nom de Mr Delangre… " et toute la phrase qui est un bijou.<br /><strong>Mais ce qui écrase tout – ce qui couronne l'œuvre c'est la fin !</strong> Je ne connais rien de plus empoignant que ce dénouement. La visite de Marthe chez son oncle – le retour de Mouret & l'inspection qu'il fait de sa maison ! La peur vous prend comme à la lecture d'un conte fantastique & vous arrivez à cet effet-là par l'excès de la réalité par l'intensité du vrai ! Le lecteur sent que la tête lui tourne comme à Mouret lui-même.<br />L'insensibilité des bourgeois qui contemplent l'incendie assis sur des fauteuils est charmante. & vous finissez par un trait sublime : l'apparition de la soutane de l'abbé Serge au chevet de sa mère mourante comme une consolation ou comme un châtiment !<br />Une chicane cependant. Le lecteur qui n'a pas de mémoire ne sait pas quel instinct pousse à agir comme ils font Me Rougon et l'oncle Macquart. Deux paragraphes d'explications eussent été suffisants. N'importe ça y est et je vous remercie du plaisir que<br />vous m'avez fait.<br />Dormez sur vos deux oreilles c'est une œuvre<br /><strong>Mettez de côté p</strong></em>ou<strong><em>r moi toutes les bêtises qu'elle inspirera. Ce genre de documents m'intéresse.</em></strong><em><br />Je vous serre la main très fort & suis<br />vous n'en doutez pas<br />vôtre<br />Gve Flaubert "</em></p><p>The fourth volume of <em>Rougon-Maquart</em> <em>La Conquête de Plassans</em> was published in the spring of 1874 by Charpentier and tells the story of Father Faujas a Bonapartist priest ready to do anything to reconquer the city of Plassans fallen into the hands of the legitimists royalists. In this violent attack on the clergy Zola depicts a Church complicit in political power manipulative using the naive piety of the faithful especially women through practices where faith is in fact only a veil masking other ambitions.</p><p>Flaubert first emits a brief hot reaction after a first reading having left him "dizzy". He says he is "shocked" and rightly so because he will a week later give himself to a criticism this time without reservation going so far as to quote passages on the recently published novel of his friend Zola.<br />It should be noted that it is not without some apprehension that Flaubert undertakes the reading of this fourth volume of <em>Rougon-Macquart</em> having succeeded the much maligned <em>Ventre de Paris</em>. He does not hide it this last novel had displeased him because according to him being too deeply in the naturalist doctrine the "system the bias" through the small Parisian people.<br /><em>La Conquête de Plassans</em> offers a different romantic formula.<br />We also notice that Flaubert revels in the way the bourgeoisie is portrayed the same provincial bourgeoisie he himself had mocked in his previous works : <em>Madame Bovary</em> and <em>L'Éducation sentimentale</em>.<br />Finally emphasizing the Abbot's hold on the Mouret couple and more particularly on Marthe whose decline will sink into madness Flaubert appreciates with what scientific precision and coldness Zola describes the ravages of the imbalance that strikes the two characters.</p><p><u>Bibliography:</u><br />Gustave Flaubert <em>Correspondance</em> éd. Jean Bruneau Pléiade t. IV p. 801 first letter<br />Gustave Flaubert <em>Correspondance</em> éd. Jean Bruneau Pléiade t. IV pp. 805-806 second letter<br />Flaubert <em>Correspondance</em> éd. René Descharmes Le Centenaire t. III pp. 541-543 second letter</p><p><u>Provenance:</u><br />Émile Zola's personal collection<br />Then Alexandrine Zola by descent<br />Then famille Le Blond-Zola by descent</p>
189874340Paris: Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza 1898. Fine. Imprimerie Champenois pour CH. Masson H. Piazza Paris Février 1898 31 x 27 cm une feuille et une serpente Rare original colour lithograph executed by Albert-Émile Artigue for L'Estampe Moderne series no. 10 published in February 1898. One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japon with wide margins artist's signature within the stone publisher's blindstamp depicting a child's profile in the lower margin numbered stamp of the deluxe issue on the verso; the print is preceded by a captioned tissue guard with the artist's name the title and an excerpt from the work; with additional plain tissue guard. Lithograph inspired by an excerpt from Emile Zola's novel La Faute de l'abbé Mouret reproduced on the tissue guard of the print. A magnificent French monthly publication issued between May 1897 and April 1899 L'Estampe Moderne comprises original chromolithographs which unlike other periodicals such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as specified on the tissue guards were created expressly for the journal by each artist. In all 100 prints were published encompassing the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism Art Nouveau the Pre-Raphaelites Orientalism and the Belle Époque. Each issue of four plates was printed in 2000 copies sold at 3.50 francs and 100 on Japon paper offered at 10 francs. Henri Piazza also planned an exclusive printing of the utmost luxury: 50 copies on Japon with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30 francs. This large-format print is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japon. Thick silky satin-finished and pearly it elevates each sheet into a work of art in its own right. Its exceptional capacity for ink absorption and affinity with colour make it the ideal medium for these splendid lithographs. The interest of French collectors in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne to describe this craze coined the term affichomanie. The poster originally popular and pasted up on the streets of the capital then became an art object its ephemeral support transformed into something precious and destined for preservation. Piazza resolved to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right on a par with the deluxe illustrated book. In this way he assembled a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the time: Georges de Feure Eugène Grasset Henri Detouche Emile Berchmans Louis Rhead Gaston de Latenay Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer Gustave-Max Stevens Charles Doudelet Hans Christiansen Henri Fantin-Latour Steinlen Ibels Engels Willette Henri Meunier Evenepoël Bellery-Desfontaines Charles Léandre etc. A handsome copy. Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza unknown
189913736Paris: L'Imprimerie Chaix 1899. First edition. Print. Fine. A young woman dressed in the classical style looks at the moon with her back to the viewer. Image size varies on paper 11 1/4 x 15 1/2" with the blind stamp in the lower right corner. <br /> <br /> Maitres de l'Affiche Masters of the Poster was an outstanding publication publishing in a small format the best of poster art from the Belle Epoque. They are lithographs printed by Imprimerie Chaix in Paris between 1895-1900. L'Imprimerie Chaix unknown
1889252812Edition du Figaro E. Plon Nourrit et C 1889. Hardcover Seide Zustand: Mit Beschädigungen mit einem Namenszug aus 1940 im Vorsatz. Rücken Ecken Kanten stark zerfranst. Die Bindung ist nicht beeinträchtigt. Edition du Figaro, E. Plon, Nourrit et C, hardcover
18893986Green cloth with gilt particulars to spine. A nice clean copy without previous owners' names or other markings. ; 4to; vii i 162 i pages; All shipments through USPS insured Priority Mail. E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie. hardcover
1889046694Paris: E. Plon Nourrit etc. 1889. First Edition. Hardcover Half Leather. Near Fine Condition. Jean-Francois Raffaelli. Half green morocco over marbled boards spine a bit sunned original wrappers bound in. Black and white and hand colored illustrations throughout and 10 heliogravure by Raffaelli - number 29 of 40 on Japan and with an additional folding etching a version of the frontis signed in pencil by Raffaelli tipped in before the frontis. A lovely production. Size: Quarto 4to. Illustrator: Jean-Francois Raffaelli. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Literature & Literary; Inventory No: 046694. E. Plon, Nourrit etc. hardcover
188279111Médan 1882. Fine. Médan 1er décembre 1882 13.60 x 21.40 cm 2 pages sur un double feuillet - enveloppe jointe Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - written in black ink on a double sheet and addressed to Léon Carbonnaux department head at Bon Marché. Folds inherent to mailing. Envelope included. Only two letters from Léon Carbonnaux to Emile Zola are known: they can be consulted in the digitized preparatory file for Au bonheur des dames made available online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. However we know from this same file which contains a long section entitled ""Notes Carbonnaux"" that this department head at Bon Marché provided Zola with a significant amount of information particularly about employee customs their remuneration and especially inventory techniques. The two men probably met when Emile Zola eager for information about the workings of department stores conducted field research in February and March 1882. Very important unpublished letter shedding new light on the pre-original publication of Au bonheur des dames. In his biography of Emile Zola Henri Mitterrand writes: ""Even before the novel was completed Zola gave an extract to Panurge in November; and on November 23 1882 Gil Blas announced its imminent publication in its columns."" Our letter discussing precisely this alleged pre-publication in Panurge attests that it was simply a joke and thus contradicts Henri Mitterrand: ""But your letter surprises and saddens me somewhat. How could you have been taken in by Panurge's stupid joke Did you not notice that the entire issue is a 'farce' Not one of the articles is authentic they are parodies and very poorly done ones at that."" Indeed reading the said extract cannot fool the assiduous reader of Zola despite the introduction that the journalists wrote: ""After Nana and Pot-Bouille those epics of elegant vice and bourgeois vice M. Emile Zola wanted to create one of honesty: Au bonheur des Dames which will appear shortly is a reassuring painting of innocence and virtue; the greatest success is assured for this new work whose characters move in the setting of a large novelty store; Parisian high commerce will not long await its observer and painter. We thank Emile Zola for having kindly cut out especially for Panurge a few pages from his still unpublished work and we are proud to give the public first an extract from this work of such high morality and such powerful interest."" Panurge no. 4 of October 22 1882 The sentences of this false Zolian text are exaggeratedly long and Panurge took the liberty of endowing the novel with a male main character Denis Mouret an amalgam of Denise the true heroine of the book to appear and Octave Mouret. One can think that it is a text composed from elements of Pot-Bouille the previous volume of Rougon Macquart where Octave - future owner of Bonheur des Dames - exercised the function of clerk before his meteoric social rise: ""For already more than two months he had been attached to the 'silks and furs' department; he arrived in the morning at seven o'clock to return home his day finished only at nine o'clock in the evening when all of Paris buzzed strangely with a feverish animation of pleasure and enjoyment and on his way back he followed gawking the great crowded boulevards where blazed the cafés full of girls and where on the asphalt at theater doors the crowd jostled with here and there in the vague rumor of trampling and pressing the roguish intonation of the cries of program vendors and ticket sellers."" Panurge In his letter of November 30 1882 Léon Carbonnaux - reading the extract from Panurge - had reproached Zola for his errors: ""Nowhere except at the Fabriques de France near Les Halles does one arrive at 7 a.m. It's at the earliest 7:30 but more often 8 a.m. and even then. There is no silk and fur counter at the Louvre. . It is so easy for you to be accurate that errors of this kind especially if t unknown
189886837Weybridge 1898. Fine. In the midst of universal cowardice you wouldn't believe how moved I am to feel a few faithful people around me Weybridge 19 août 1898 13.50 x 20.50 cm quatre pages sur un bifeuillet Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola to Octave Mirbeau dated August 19 1898. Four pages in black ink on a bifolium written to Octave Mirbeau. Usual trace of horizontal fold. Published in Zola's uvres complètes t. XLIX ed. F. Bernouard 1927 p. 808. Exceptional testament of friendship and self-sacrifice from Emile Zola in exile after being sentenced to the maximum penalty for writing ""J'accuse!"" the most famous article proclaming Captain Dreyfus's innocence. After his historic article in L'Aurore Zola was sentenced a first time by a jury on February 23 1898 to one year's imprisonment and a fine of three thousand francs. The verdict was overturned and the case was referred back to the Versailles court of justice which upheld only three of the eight hundred lines in ""J'accuse!"" as a charge. Unwilling to accept such a stifling of the proceedings Zola's defense decided to default and the conviction was upheld. After his eventful exit from the courthouse Clémenceau and his lawyer Labori advised him to leave the country before the judgment could become enforceable. Zola left on the last train that evening with only a shirt hastily rolled up in newspaper as luggage. A month after his departure the writer writes this superb reply to a letter from his loyal supporter Octave Mirbeau who had written to him a few days earlier: ""We think only of you; there isn't a minute of our existence that you don't fill entirely"" August 14 1898. Settled in the London suburb of Weybridge he angrily receives the ""echoes of Paris"" and is enraged to see Esterhazy the true culprit of the Dreyfus Affair once again cleared - this time by civil courts. ""My dear friend Thank you for your kind letter . In the midst of universal cowardice you wouldn't believe how moved I am to feel a few faithful people around me. My existence here has become possible since I've been able to get back to work. Work has always comforted me saved me. But my poor hands are still trembling with a shiver that cannot end. You wouldn't believe the outrage I feel at the echoes from France that reach me. In the evening when daylight falls I think it's the end of the world. You think I should go back and make myself a prisoner without returning to Versailles. That would be too good to have the peace of prison and I don't think it's possible. I didn't set out to go back like that; our attitude would be neither logical nor beautiful. Rather I think I'm in indefinite exile unless I run the abominable risk of a new trial. Besides we won't be able to make up our minds until October. And by then who knows Although I'm counting on a miracle in which I have little faith. So let us be brave my friend and let our work be done! If I can keep working things won't be too bad yet. . I shake your hand my good friend the faithful and rare friend of bad days"". Poignant manuscript confession from Zola forced into exile. Death would strike him in the midst of his glory days without him ever knowing the outcome of the affair he had devoted so many years of struggle. unknown
188279108Médan 1882. Fine. Médan 23 juin 1882 13.40 x 21.60 cm 1 page 1/2 sur un double feuillet - enveloppe jointe Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola - apparently unpublished - addressed to Léon Carbonnaux written in black ink on a double sheet. Folds inherent to mailing. Envelope included. Important testimony to the colossal documentation work and the capital role of Emile Zola's informants in depicting his immense natural and social fresco. This letter was sent to Léon Carbonnaux department head at Bon Marché who transmitted precious information to Emile Zola for the creation of the eleventh volume of the Rougon-Macquart series: Au Bonheur des Dames. Only two letters from Léon Carbonnaux to Emile Zola are known: they can be consulted in the digitization of the preparatory file for Bonheur des Dames made available online by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. However we know thanks to this same file which contains a long section entitled ""Notes Carbonnaux"" that this department head at Bon Marché provided a significant amount of information to Zola particularly about employee customs and their remuneration. The two men undoubtedly met when Emile Zola eager for information about the functioning of department stores conducted field research in February and March 1882. This response would therefore be the very first that the writer addressed to the department head in reply to his letter of June 19 1882. Far from imagining the keen success that this new novel would achieve Zola even seems to take it lightly: ""Je désire simplement toucher au sujet dans mon livre pour le besoin du petit drame commercial qui me sert de fable. Vos notes sont excellentes. . Enfin me voilà au travail. Le sujet est à la fois bien vaste - et bien ingrat pour un roman. On devra me tolérer un peu de fiction car il faut bien que je passionne la matière. Mais je tâche de m'en tenir le plus strictement possible à mes notes."" ""I simply wish to touch on the subject in my book for the needs of the little commercial drama that serves as my fable. Your notes are excellent. . Finally here I am at work. The subject is both very vast - and very thankless for a novel. One will have to tolerate a bit of fiction from me for I must make the material passionate. But I try to stick as strictly as possible to my notes."" It must be said that Carbonnaux takes his role as informant very much to heart and having no doubt about the book's success he writes: ""Dans le bâtiment chez nous d'ailleurs partout on attend votre livre. Les lecteurs ne vous manqueront pas. Soyez-en sûr. Vous n'en êtes plus à compter les succès celui-là s'annonce comme devant dépasser les autres."" letter of June 19 1882 For another work on the same subject has just appeared: ""J'ai lu le volume de Pierre Giffard. Il me paraît comme vous injuste et même faux dans plusieurs parties. C'est bâclé. Il aurait fallu pour un pareil ouvrage de documents purs une entière exactitude. Moi qui écris une uvre d'imagination je ne me permettrai pas de tels écarts."" ""I have read Pierre Giffard's volume. It seems to me like you unjust and even false in several parts. It is hastily done. For such a work of pure documents complete accuracy would have been necessary. I who write a work of imagination would not allow myself such deviations.""It was Carbonnaux who had pointed out the work to Zola: ""Pierre Giffard du Figaro vient de faire paraître chez Havard un vol de 300 pages intitulé « Les Grands bazars de Paris ». . On sait que le Figaro est inféodé au Louvre magasin concurrent au Bon Marché & on peut assurer que ce livre a été commandé et bâclé dès que votre intention de traiter le même sujet a été connue. . Il fallait déguiser un peu la réclame pour le Louvre."" letter of June 19 1882 We can clearly see here how much department stores fascinate and we understand the immense success that this novel by Zola describing their advent and supremacy would achieve. unknown
188879098Paris 1888. Fine. Paris 11 février 1888 13.20 x 20.50 cm 2 pages sur un double feuillet Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Henry Fouquier written in black ink on a bifolium. Usual folds from mailing. This letter was transcribed in the complete correspondence of Emile Zola published by the CNRS and the Presses de l'Université de Montréal. A fine letter evoking La Terre and Tolstoy's The Power of Darkness. Henry Fouquier 1838-1900 was a literary critic and columnist for numerous newspapers. A close friend of Guy de Maupassant he supported Emile Zolas candidacy for the Académie française. This letter was written to him the day after the performance of Tolstoy's The Power of Darkness at the Théâtre-Libre. We have not found evidence of an article in which the journalist explicitly drew a parallel between the Russian drama and Zolas La Terre but Zola here addresses his thanks: « Merci mon cher Fouquier de ce que vous voulez bien dire de « la Terre » si attaquée. J'en suis touché vivement et croyez à toute ma gratitude. » It must be said that the fifteenth volume of the Rougon-Macquart cycle was harshly received unleashing passions from the moment of its serial publication in Gil Blas. On 18 August 1887 even before the conclusion of the novel was revealed to the public Le Figaro published the Manifeste des Cinq written by Paul Bonnetain J.-H. Rosny Lucien Descaves Paul Margueritte and Gustave Guiches. These young authors issued a severe verdict: « La Terre a paru. La déception a été profonde et douloureuse. Non seulement l'observation est superficielle les trucs démodés la narration commune et dépourvue de caractéristiques mais la note ordurière est exacerbée encore descendue à des saletés si basses que par instants on se croirait devant un recueil de scatologie : le Maître est descendu au fond de l'immondice. . Nous répudions ces bonshommes de rhétorique zoliste ces silhouettes énormes surhumaines et biscornues dénuées de complication jetées brutalement en masses lourdes dans des milieux aperçus au hasard des portières d'express. De cette dernière uvre du grand cerveau qui lança L'Assommoir sur le monde de cette Terre bâtarde nous nous éloignons résolument mais non sans tristesse. Il nous poigne de repousser l'homme que nous avons trop fervemment aimé. » Zola who had been developing the idea of a peasant novel for a decade was deeply affected. Though he never responded publicly to these accusations his correspondence is strewn with clarifications about the work whose sheer brutality alone seemed to occupy readers minds: « Mais vous ajoutez que notre thèse à Tolstoï et à moi est la même et peut se résumer en ceci : le travail de la terre est corrupteur. Tolstoï il me semble protesterait bien haut et quant à moi je vous affirme que je n'ai jamais voulu prouver une telle chose radicalement fausse à mon avis. Ce que je pense c'est que la petite propriété telle qu'elle existe chez nous c'est que la suite de faits sociaux qui ont abouti à notre forme sociale nous ont donné notre paysan d'aujourd'hui avec ses qualités et ses vices. Notre paysan est le prisonnier de sa terre et non l'homme libre qu'il devrait être. Comment voulez-vous qu'il n'y étouffe pas dans son ignorance et sa passion unique Labourer est très sain mais à la condition qu'on sera le maître de son champ au lieu d'en être le forçat. Je me suis exténué à faire sortir cette vérité de mon livre si l'on ne m'a pas compris la faute en est sans doute à moi. » A remarkable letter from the master of Naturalism shedding new light on one of the most brutal volumes of the Rougon-Macquart series. unknown
187779046L'Estaque - Marseille Marseille 1877. Fine. L'Estaque - Marseille Marseille 22 septembre 1877 13.30 x 20.80 cm 3 pages 1/2 sur un double feuillet Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Louis-Edmond Duranty written in black ink on a double leaf. Some deletions and corrections; folds inherent to postal transmission. This letter has been transcribed in the complete correspondence of Emile Zola published by the CNRS and the Presses of the University of Montreal. Long letter evoking the heat wave at L'Estaque Une page d'amour and Edouard Manet. ""Il y a quatre mois que nous sommes ici et je vous avais promis de vous écrire. Mais j'ai tant travaillé et j'ai eu si chaud que vous m'excuserez de mon apparente paresse. Imaginez-vous que jusqu'au 15 août la température a été très agréable ; il faisait beaucoup moins chaud qu'à Paris et nous respirions chaque soir une brise de mer délicieuse. Puis voilà que brusquement lorsque je nous croyais hors de toutes mauvaises plaisanteries de la chaleur le thermomètre est monté à 40 degrés et s'y est maintenu nuit et jour. Nous avons ainsi passé deux semaines intolérables. Aujourd'hui la fraîcheur est revenue et nous allons rester jusqu'aux premiers jours de novembre pour jouir des charmes d'un bel automne."" ""We have been here for four months and I had promised to write to you. But I have worked so much and have been so hot that you will excuse my apparent laziness. Imagine that until August 15th the temperature was very pleasant; it was much less hot than in Paris and we breathed each evening a delicious sea breeze. Then suddenly when I thought we were safe from all the nasty tricks of the heat the thermometer rose to 40 degrees and stayed there night and day. We thus spent two unbearable weeks. Today the coolness has returned and we will stay until the first days of November to enjoy the charms of a beautiful autumn."" In this summer of 1877 Zola left the tumultuous capital for a five-month stay at L'Estaque ""banlieue de Marseille"" ""suburb of Marseille"" in the company of his wife Alexandrine and his mother Emilie Aubert. This long southern interlude reminded him of his youth in Aix: ""Je suis d'ailleurs enchanté de mon été. Les pays est splendide et me rappelle toute ma jeunesse."" ""I am moreover delighted with my summer. The country is splendid and reminds me of all my youth."" ""Pour finir avec moi j'ajouterai que j'ai travaillé vigoureusement à mon roman sans pourtant l'avancer autant que je l'aurais voulu. Ce roman doit paraître dans le Bien Public à partir du 14 novembre. J'en serai quitte pour donner encore un vigoureux coup de collier à Paris."" ""To finish with myself I will add that I have worked vigorously on my novel without however advancing it as much as I would have liked. This novel must appear in the Bien Public starting November 14th. I will have to give another vigorous push in Paris."" The new novel in question here is Une page d'amour whose plot and style contrast completely with the previous volume of the Rougon-Macquart: ""Je ne sais vraiment pas ce que vaut mon travail. J'ai voulu donner une note absolument opposée à celle de L'Assommoir ce qui me déroute parfois et me fait trouver mon roman bien gris. Mais je vais tout de même bravement mon chemin. Il faudra voir."" ""I really don't know what my work is worth. I wanted to give a note absolutely opposite to that of L'Assommoir which sometimes disconcerts me and makes me find my novel quite gray. But I am nonetheless bravely going my way. We will have to see."" But this ""page of love"" conceals another and during this stay in the Marseilles furnace Emile Zola was already thinking about the following volume: ""What is simmering in his southern pot is nothing less than a new bomb. Not Une page d'amour: 'it is a work too gentle to excite the public.' But Nana is already announced: 'I dream here of an extraordinary Nana. You will see that.' letter to Marguerite Charpentier of August 21 1877"" Henri Mitterrand Zola Even t unknown
1898867501898. Fine. ""The nervous and passionate man that I am is not made for exile for resignation and silence"" 15 décembre 1898 13.50 x 20.50 cm quatre pages sur un bifeuillet Autograph letter initialed by Emile Zola dated in his hand April 10 1898. Four pages in black ink on a bifolium addressed to Octave Mirbeau's wife. Horizontal fold mark inherent to mailing very rare and discrete foxing on the first leaf. A particularity of this exile correspondence Zola chose to omit his signature in his letters - or as here to initial only protecting himself from censorship or police investigations. Published in his Complete Works vol. XXV ed. F. Bernouard 1927 p. 820. Heart-wrenching letter by Zola written in complete exile the most unknown retreat the most absolute silence. The justiciar writer is secluded in England forced to leave Paris after being condemned to the maximum penalty for having written ""J'accuse!"" during these cruel hours. After his historic cry from the heart in l'Aurore Zola was condemned a first time by the Seine jury on February 23 1898 to one year in prison and three thousand francs fine. The judgment was annulled on appeal and the case was referred to the Versailles assizes which retained only three lines out of the eight hundred that ""J'accuse!"" contains as the charge. To not accept such a stifling of the debates Zola's defense decided to default and the condemnation was confirmed. The very evening of his tumultuous exit from the Palace of Justice Clémenceau and his lawyer Labori advised him to leave the country before the judgment could become executable. The writer struggles to bear this voluntary exile so contrary to his character and opens his heart in this missive he addresses to Mirbeau's wife who was for him unconditional support alongside her husband. He does not hide the feeling of guilt that gnaws at him and exposes his strategy: ""Dear Madam and friend what a good and comforting letter you wrote to me! I confess that I needed this cordial somewhat for the nervous and passionate man that I am is not made for exile for resignation and silence. You perfectly guessed that my torture is to be sheltered in too much peace and security while others are fighting. And you know that my resolution was taken to say nothing to anyone and to return one fine morning. Now here you are writing to me and you are not the only one everyone writes to me that I must stay where I am under penalty of unleashing the worst catastrophes. I don't believe it I confess I remain convinced that my project was brave even useful and that we would have been victorious once more. But faced with unanimous opinion I must bow. As I write to Labori this is the greatest sacrifice I have yet made to the cause for one cannot imagine all that I suffer here morally intellectually in the powerlessness to act in which I find myself. And I do not speak of my poor heart torn from all that it loved. As for leaving this country I will not even attempt it. All my suffering would be renewed. I have reflected on it at length all good reasons are that I stay where I am even if the affair must last months more. It seems to me that this is better for it would only be lacking that I go amuse myself in the sun while others are fighting. You already guess the articles of the vile press France sold to Italy for the thirty pieces of silver of Judas. Tell your husband how much I love and admire him. There he is thrown into action too and he behaves superbly in it. Thanks also to both of you for the affection with which you surround my dear wife devoting yourselves to our interests ensuring that she is not alone in Paris in the midst of battle. I am infinitely touched by your tenderness and it is one of my great consolations. I take the liberty of embracing you dear madam and friend and of also embracing your valiant husband with all my heart."" While his own camp forces him into exile events unfold in Fran unknown
189480728s. l. Rome Rome 1894. Fine. s. l. Rome Rome Dimanche 4 novembre 1894 13.20 x 20.50 cm une page sur un double feuillet et une enveloppe Autograph letter signed by Emile Zola addressed to Ugo Ojetti. One page written in black ink on the first page of a double sheet. Folding inherent to postal transmission. Envelope included. This letter was addressed by the father of naturalism to journalist Ugo Ojetti when he had just arrived in Rome: ""Monsieur je vais remercier infiniment le comte Joseph Primoli de l'amabilité qu'il a mise à vous adresser à moi et je serai très heureux de vous recevoir si vous voulez bien me venir voir le soir qu'il vous plaira à six heures."" ""Sir I wish to thank Count Joseph Primoli infinitely for the kindness he has shown in directing you to me and I shall be very happy to receive you if you would be so good as to come and see me any evening that suits you at six o'clock."" Having arrived a few days earlier in the eternal city to conduct research for Rome Emile Zola hoped to meet Count Joseph Primoli there. The latter was unfortunately in Paris but he sent him this young journalist from La Tribuna who would serve as his guide but also as secretary. The two men clearly got along well and Zola even authorized Ojetti to adapt an opera libretto from his famous Nana. The project would unfortunately never come to fruition. Joseph Napoléon Count Primoli 1851-1927 was the great-great-nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Very close to the imperial family under the Second Empire he subsequently remained faithful to the salon of his beloved aunt Princess Mathilde in her private mansion on rue de Berri. His refined and witty conversation worked wonders there and he met as a passionate bibliophile some of the greatest writers of his time: Gustave Flaubert Théophile Gautier the Goncourts and Guy de Maupassant. unknown
189084423Paris 1890. Fine. Paris 20 Février 1890 13.50 x 20.50 cm une page Autograph letter dated and signed by Emile Zola 12 lines in black ink addressed to librettist Louis Gallet concerning the operatic adaptation by Alfred Bruneau of the novel ""Le rêve"". Folds inherent to postal dispatch. Emile Zola was to meet jointly with Alfred Bruneau who had adapted the novel ""Le rêve"" for the opera and Louis Gallet the librettist of this adaptation. ""Je vous attends demain matin. pour causer des trois derniers tableaux. J'écris également à Bruneau pour lui donner rendez-vous"" ""I await you tomorrow morning. to discuss the last three tableaux. I am also writing to Bruneau to arrange a meeting with him"" and shows himself very satisfied with this prospect: ""Tout va bien."" ""All goes well."" unknown
