Le Procès Zola – The Protocols of the Libel Trial of Émile Zola – Paris, 1898

Le Procès Zola, Devant la Cour d'Assises de la Seine et la Cour de Cassation… et Documents Annexes [The Trial of Zola, The Assize Court of the Seine and the Appeals Court… and Appendices]. Paris: P. -V. Stock, 1898, French. Two parts in one volume.
This book contains the original protocols and other documents of the libel trial of Émile Zola, which was held in the Assize Court of the Seine (in February 1898) and in the Appeals Court (in April 1898). Émile Zola's letters to the President of the Republic and to the Minister of War are printed at the beginning of the book. The protocols of the debates and questioning , the speeches of the prosecution, the speeches of the defense, and the sentence appear on subsequent pages, together with several documents connected to the Dreyfus Affair (the open letter of Count Casella, the indictment of Alfred Dreyfus, and reports of commanding officers in the army). At the end of the book appear six plates (some of them folded) with facsimiles of handwritten evidence: two letters of the officer Ferdinand Esterhazy (who later turned out to be the real spy), as well as a letter, comments, and notes by Alfred Dreyfus.
Émile Zola was put on trial for libel against high-ranking officials of the government and the army after he published "J'Accuse," his famous open letter in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, in the newspaper L'Aurore. The court found Zola guilty and sentenced him to prison and a fine. Following the sentence, Zola fled to England, where he lived for almost a year until he was permitted to return to France.
[1], 554; [2], 544 pp. + [6] plates, approx. 21 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Blemishes, tears, and creases at the edges of some leaves. The first title page has a tear repaired with tape along its width, and partially restored open tears at the edges. A note on top of the first title page and markings in ink and pencil in the margins of some of the paragraphs. The binding is slightly damaged.