[Rarebooks] fa: VIZETELLY EXTRACTS re: EMILE ZOLA & CENSORSHIP - 1888 - True First - One of ca. 19 copies in existence

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

An iconic work in the history of press censorship and a legendary  
"bibliographical curiosity" — one of approx. 19 copies known to exist...

[Henry Vizetelly:] EXTRACTS Principally from the English Classics :  
Showing that the Legal Suppression of M. Zola's Novels Would Logically  
Involve the Bowdlerizing of Some of the Greatest Works in English  
Literature. London: 1888. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover 4to bound in early  
three-quarter cinnamon morocco over marbled boards, morocco spine  
label with title in gilt...

A handsome example of the scarce true first printing of this self- 
published landmark in the history of censorship, the contents matching  
all the points which differentiate it from the later pirated facsimile  
edition, as elucidated by William E. Colburn in his article "The  
Vizetelly Extracts" (Princeton University Library Chronicle, Winter  
1962)...

In 1888 publisher Henry Vizetelly came under attack from those late- 
Victorian guardians of morality, the National Vigilance Association  
for publishing the works of Emile Zola, in particular <i>Nana, The  
Soil,</i> and <i>Pot-Bouille</i>. Charged with printing obscene libels  
by the Director of Public Prosecution, Vizetelly in his defense  
printed this collection of "lewd" passages from Shakespeare, Defoe,  
Congreve, Swift, Fielding, Byron, Swinburne and others, to demonstrate  
that the legal suppression of Zola's novels would logically involve  
the censoring of some of the greatest works in English literature. In  
addition, the introduction features defenses of Zola's writings by  
Henry James, Andrew Lang, and Zola himself. Ultimately, in May, 1889,  
Vizetelly was tried and convicted. He was fined and, though aged 70  
and ill, imprisoned for three months. He died in 1894...

More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching  
under my seller name, arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/arch_in_la

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.