[Zola, Emile.] Printed newspaper, Aurore, carring one of journalism's most influential articles, "L'Accuse," on the front page...

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[Zola, Emile.] Printed newspaper, Aurore, carring one of journalism's most influential articles, "L'Accuse," on the front page continuing in three columns on the second page, in French, 4 pages (24.62 x 18 in.; 625 x 457 mm.), Paris, 13 January 1898. [Zola, Emile.] Printed newspaper, Aurore, carring one of journalism's most influential articles, "L'Accuse," on the front page continuing in three columns on the second page, in French, 4 pages (24.62 x 18 in.; 625 x 457 mm.), Paris, 13 January 1898. J'Accuse. On 13 January 1898, three years after Alfred Dreyfus was convicted and sentenced for selling military secrets to the German military attaché, Emile Zola fiercely denounced the army general staff and publicly announced his support of the French army officer with the publication of an open letter on the front page of L'Aurore. With the dramatic headline "J'Accuse," Zola's firey letter caused quite a stir with 200,000 copies of Gerge Clemenceau's newspaper selling by nightfall. Zola accused the French army of covering up its mistaken conviction of Dreyfus and of acquitting another, Major C. F. Esterhazy. By the time of Zola's letter, the Dreyfus case had split France into two opposing camps: those against reopening the case and those seeking exoneration of Dreyfus. Amid uproar in Parliament, the government was also pressed by the nationalists to bring Zola to justice, while anti-Semetic riots broke out in the provinces. a petition demanding revision of the Dreyfus trial was signed by some 3,000 individuals, including Anatole France, Marcel Proust and a host of intellectuals. Zola's own trial began on 7 February and he was found guilty of libel and sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a fine of 3,000 francs. His conviction was overturned and there was a retrial on 18 July. Zola did not wait for the verdict. He fled to England and remained there for eleven months. He returned to France in June 1899 when he learned that the Dreyfus case would be reopened with a possible reversal of the original verdict. From 1898 to 1899 the Dreyfusard cause gained strength, particularly after Major Henry confessed to the forgeries that convicted Dreyfus. The new trial for Dreyfus in August 1899 found him guilty but the president of the Republic, in order to resolve issue, pardoned him. Dreyfus accepted the act of clemency but reserved the right to do all in his power to establish his innocence. Finally, in 1904, a retrial was granted and in July 1906 a civilian court of appeals cleared Dreyfus and reversed all previous convictions. Together with: Zola, Emile. Autograph letter signed, in French, 2 pages octavo, Paris, 18 March 1898, to an unidentified friend. Found guilty of libel, Zola shares his thoughts with a friend. A month after his conviction, Zola writes in part: Your letter is most kind and I am infinitely touched . . . grant me one favor: let's keep it private. After dinner, just let us chat with complete freedom . . . at this moment, do not ask anyone to be courageous, even those who are of my opnion. And then, why admit that I am entering Sainte Pélagie [a prison] since the Supreme Court of Appeal has not yet come to a decision. It will not reverse anything, I am certain. Nevertheless, the impossible might happen, and it would be ridiculous to have embraced me at the threshold of the prison when it is possible that I may not enter there . . .