ZOLA (Emile) Autograph letter signed 'Emile Zola', 3pp., 8vo, Paris, 3rd March 1887, to his friend

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ZOLA (Emile) Autograph letter signed 'Emile Zola', 3pp., 8vo, Paris, 3rd March 1887, to his friend and translator, Ernst Ziegler, in French (with an English translation). Zola apologises for the delay in his reply, commenting ‘You cannot imagine the trouble I am in, and the pile of work ahead of me…..I don’t know how I am going to be able to pull through’ and continues to inform Ziegler that he is going to write to the Wiener Allegemeine Zeitung, remarking ‘The deal is indeed mediocre. But the eight hundred guilders are still better than nothing. Try and make up for it elsewhere, if you can. If I have not responded sooner, about Italy, it is because “La Terre” was sold there a while ago, to the newspaper La Tribuna, for three thousand francs. I do not think you could be offered a higher amount’, and further adding ‘I have sold in England as well, for the same amount, and I will be selling in Spain for two thousand francs, and probably in Sweden for 500 francs. And that is all. You have Portugal, Russia and America left. I would certainly like nothing better than to agree with you on the whole of Europe, on the condition that I would not be selling at a loss. Besides, this time, time is running out. We were taken unawares. Our business will be bad, I can see it, and I feel very sorry for you.’ Zola concludes his letter writing ‘I have already proofread three prints, I will send them back to the printing house, in order to get proofs which are entirely correct. Let me know by return of post how many copies you need.’ Accompanied by the original envelope hand addressed by Zola to Ziegler in Vienna.La Terre was the fifteenth novel in Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series and was published in 1887. One of the most graphically violent and sexually explicit novels of the 19th century, La Terre caused considerable controversy at the time of its publication and the English translation in 1888 resulted in the prosecution for obscenity of the publisher, Henry Vizetelly.