ZOLA, Émile. Germinal. A Realistic Novel. London: Vizetelly & Co. 1885.
8vo. Original brown cloth with paper label to spine, floral endpapers; pp. 464, 20 [publisher's catalogue]; marks to boards, a little bumped to extremities, label a little chipped and rubbed, very good.
First English edition, translated and published by Vizetelly not long before he was imprisoned for publishing Zola and other "demoralising" works. This novel is considered to be Zola's great contribution to literature. A rallying cry for social justice in its portrayal of the brutal lives of miners, it is both a landmark of realist literature and a powerful political statement.
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