ZOLA (Émile). Les Trois villes. Paris. Paris:... Lot 685

ZOLA (Émile). Les Trois villes. Paris. Paris: Bibliothèque-Charpentier, 1898. - In-18, 180 x 116: (2 ff.), 608 pp. printed cover. Red half-maroquin with corners, gilt fillets, ornate spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover preserved (A. Meyer). First edition of the third novel in the Les Trois villes cycle inaugurated with Lourdes in 1894. A precious copy, on publisher's paper, offered by the author to his lawyer Fernand Labori (1860-1917), enriched with this very fine autograph signed letter on the false title: to Fernand Labori // to the great citizen, to the elo- // quent defender of truth // and justice, whose // word will certainly // germinate tomorrow's harvest, // - to the friend and com- // pagnon pagnon, in the giant // struggle from which we will emerge // // victorious. victorious. // Emile Zola That same year of 1898, Émile Zola's trial took place before the Seine Assize Court, following the publication on January 13 of his famous letter to the President of the Republic in L'Aurore, under the title J'accuse! Fernand Labori was one of Zola's lawyers in this case, which ended on February 22 with Zola being sentenced to three years in prison and fined three thousand francs. Paris was published just a few days after the trial, on March 1, 1898, and this dispatch, contemporary with the publication, perfectly illustrates Zola's desire to fight despite the outcome of the case. It also echoes the contents of the book, in which, according to Léon Blum, "never has M. Zola developed with greater lucidity and force his optimistic vision of humanity on the march" (Léon Blum in Revue Blanche, April 1, 1898). A good copy in a contemporary binding by Alexandre Meyer (1834-1905). Some wear to binding. Provenance: Fernand Labori, with dispatch from the author.