L’Oeuvre de Zola. 16 Simili Aquarelles par H. Lebourgeois.

(DREYFUS AFFAIR).

E. Bernard et Cie

Paris

1898

Second series. Although the list of contents includes 25 titles, the volume contains 32 scathing caricatures of Zola in watercolor reproduction.

The title is a play on Zola’s 1886 novel “L’oeuvre.” After Emile Zola came to the defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus in his famous “J’Accuse,” the anti-Dreyfus camp, composed of rabid anti-Semites, pounced upon Zola, portraying him in the most extreme terms. A prime example of this vilification campaign is the present collection of plates by the caricaturist H. Lebourgeois. See J.M. Guieu, “Les Caricatures Antidreyfusardes de H. Lebourgeois” in: Mimesis et Semiosis: Litterature et Representation (1992) pp. 435-46.