Returning from exile, Emile ZOLA receives his Dreyfusard friend Gabriel Monod.

Emile Zola (1840.1902)

Autograph letter signed to the historian Gabriel Monod.

One page in-8°. Paris. June 7, 1899.

“I will wait for you, very touched by the visit of an honest and valiant spirit such as you. »

Interesting testimony to the friendship between these two great supporters of Captain Dreyfus, three days after Zola's return from exile.

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“Dear Mr. Monod, I will be very happy to see you, and the good sympathy you send me is very precious to me. But I'll be picked up on Thursday at five o'clock. Couldn't you come the same day at two o'clock? I will be waiting for you, very touched by the visit of an honest and valiant spirit such as you. Best regards. Emile Zola. »

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Attacked for defamation following the publication of his " J'accuse ", Zola was sentenced, in the summer of 1898, to a year in prison and a fine of 3,000 francs, the maximum penalty. Despite the cassation appeal, and on the advice of his lawyer Labori, the convicted Zola immediately left France to go into exile in England, before the verdict was officially notified to him and became enforceable. On July 18, 1898, Zola, alone, took the 9:00 p.m. train for Calais, without any luggage. Recluse in London, he remains attentive to the evolution of the procedure.

On June 3, 1899, the Court of Cassation unanimously annulled the judgment condemning Dreyfus. Zola decided to return to France immediately: “ Nothing in the world will keep me here for another hour .”