[ZOLA – DREYFUS AFFAIR] L’Aurore, 13 January 1898

[ZOLA – DREYFUS AFFAIR] L’Aurore, 13 January 1898

“J’accuse…!” Letter to the President of the Republic
Paris, L’Aurore, 13 janvier 1898, 4 pages in-plano
Few pin holes, folding marks, crumbly right margin with minor unimportant gaps, uniform browning

First edition print of the newspaper L’Aurore of January 13, 1898. In very good original, unrestored condition and complete of its four pages

Bespoke framing with white, horizontal all-round pass partout. Double museum type glass museum, anti-reflection and anti-UV

On January 13, 1898, Émile Zola published in the newspaper L’Aurore (founded by Clemenceau and Vaughan the previous year) an open letter to the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, whose title, “J’accuse…!” chosen by Clemenceau, was spread in large print on the newspaper’s title page. In this long and intense text with magnificent formulas, which occupies the first two pages of the newspaper on six columns, Zola recalls at first the circumstances of the affair, the discovery of the slip and the conviction of Dreyfus, then returns to the revelation of the betrayal of Commander Esterhazy, before denouncing his scandalous acquittal and accusing, in a series of litany beginning with the famous “J’Accuse…!” , ministers of war, staff officers and writing experts summoned at Esterhazy’s trial to be responsible for the conviction of an innocent person, acquitting a culprit. To the accuracy and reliability of the information delivered by Zola is added the vigor of the writer’s style, making this article a literary monument, a true “prophecy” to use the expression of a young enthusiastic admirer, Charles Péguy. At a time when the audience of the press was growing, this pamphlet had an unprecedented impact in public opinion: proclaimed in the street during the day of January 13 by the sellers of the newspaper L’Aurore, pulled for the occasion to 300,000 copies, the cry “J’accuse” caused a great effervescence in the streets of Paris. The commitment of intellectuals was born.