Psst...!: Paraissant le Samedi de Forain, Louis-Henri (Jean Louis Forain) and Emmanuel Poire (Caran d'Ache) - 1899

Paris: Libraire Plon, 1899. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Jean Louis Forain and Caran d'Ache. A remarkably sturdy, still handsome exemplar of an important item, a lightly mottled red cloth-bound volume of all 85 issues of "Psst...!", bound in folio-size format, measuring 15 3/4" x 11 1/4" tall and wide, respectively. Published in First Edition state, with blind-ruling to both front and rear panels. Not paginated consecutively, but each issue is four pages in length. Text in French, some rubbing to softpaper wraps, some moderate foxing here and there, but minimal. Internally quite clean and bright. A complete run of a stridently antisemitic French-language newspaper that began publication only a fortnight following the launch of Emile Zola's famous “J'accuse...!” published in L'Aurore to protest the false accusations made against and jailing of the Alsatian Jewish French Army officer Alfred Dreyfus. "Caran d'Ache," the pseudonym of Emmanuel Poire (1858-1909), and "Louis-Henri Forain," that of Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931), commenced publication of a national sensation that ran to these 85 issues. Office Alfred Dreyfus was accused of selling French Army military secrets to their sworn enemies, the Russians. This publication slandered Dreyfus and, by extension, all Jews in France. When Emile Zola penned a scathing indictment of antisemitism in France, "J'Accuse" ("I Accuse"), Forain et d'Ache jumped into the fray, and Zola was charged with libel and went into exile in England. The shameless forgery was eventually discovered, but Dreyfus was found guilty again at a second trial and went back into prison. This ignited international outrage sufficient eventually to clear Dreyfus's good name and along with it, that of Zola. Owing to the unwelcome international exposure and the eventual release of Dreyfus from prison Forain and d'Ache ended the newspaper at #85, dated September 16, 1899. Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.