←Menu of Letters 1889

Aet. 37, to the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. The Pall Mall Gazette (26 June 1889) reported that George Moore was circulating a petition to the Home Secretary, Mr. Henry Mathews, stating that Henry Vizetelly had pleaded guilty to recent charges only because counsel had advised that defense before an illiterate jury would be futile; and that the books Vizetelly was prosecuted for publishing (including Madame Bovary) were modern French masterpieces. The petition, which requested the immediate release of Henry Vizetelly, was signed by several distinguished political and artistic people, whose names were reported in the Vigilance Record (15 September 1889). Among them was William Faux of W.H. Smith & Son. George’s petition was denied. Years later, George told Jean-Frédéric-Emile Aubry that La Terre was actually one of Zola’s finest novels (Bookman’s Journal and Print Collector, December 1924).