Emile Zola et al. - Les victimes du devoir - 1884

Scarce illustrated fundraising brochure - including perhaps Zola's first reference to the events of his seminal work "Germinal".

First edition, connected with the creation of the 'Caisse des victimes du devoir', and large charitable fête held on 7th and 8th June 1884 in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris. The event aimed to raise money for a Caisse des victimes du devoir, intended to assist people injured while performing acts of devotion or public service, and the families of those killed. The fund was formally established the year after, in 1885.

Those 'victimes du devoir included people such as firefighters, police officers, miners and others who had risked their lives in the service of others. This was part of a culture of civic heroism and public philanthropy in the late 19th century.

The publication, with its coloured illustrated cover, contains:
- Drawings by well-known contemporary illustrators.
- Reproductions of works of art.
- Poems and letters of support.
- Advertising material connected with the fundraising events.

We can find no copies for sale, and no WorldCat record. The only copy we can find is at the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris. This copy has never been bound up (and so is disbound / loose in sheets).

10 leaves (20 pages) irregularly numbered, [i], 2-3, [4-5], 6-7, [8-9], 14-15. [16-17], 18-19, [20]. + covers pp.

This appears to perhaps be a cheap edition of the main work. Although the pagination indicates a lack of pages, in fact, in the other copy we have there are several blanks, which are not present here. It seems that the difference is the lack of a leaf showing the charity event's programme, a centre illustration and a leaf of adverts. We wonder if this is a copy sold after the day, and so not requiring the programme?

There is a full colour cover, followed by full page reproductions of art works, and a number of letters and poems of support. Including a short letter by Emile Zola. This tells of his meeting a miner who had rescued his colleagues, immortalised in "Germinal" the following year. Zola had visited the "Compagnie des mines d'Anzin" during a major strike which began in February 1884 and lasted for 56 days. This means Zola must have visiting in February, or March. Zola began work on Germinal in April 1884. This brochure was printed at the end of May 1884. We cannot find an earlier reference of Zola's visits to the mines, so we are confident that this was the first mention he made of the miners and their struggles. The serialisation of Germinal began in November 1884.

41 x 31 cm

This is a Large-format, one-off illustrated publications produced for charity

In February 1884 a strike broke out at the Anzin mines in northern France and lasted 56 days. While it was still going on, Émile Zola went to Anzin in late February and early March 1884 to research his next novel. He went down a pit, talked to miners and filled notebooks.

A month later, in April 1884, he began writing Germinal, his great novel of a mining strike. It was serialised from November 1884 and published as a book in 1885

In between, in June 1884, this charity brochure printed a short letter from Zola about a miner he had met who had rescued his fellow workers. This is one of Zola’s earliest published comments on the miners, printed while Germinal was being written.

There were also contributions by Théodore de Banville and Paul de Cassagnac amongst many others.