161 - ZOLA, Émile (1840–1902).

ZOLA, Émile (1840–1902). 2 letters, “Émile Zola,” October 12 and 13, 1876, to Philippe GILLE; 1 page in-8 and 2 pages in-12, one envelope. Note: October 12. Zola warmly thanks Gille for his article on *Son Excellence Eugène Rougon*: “Now I have an advocate! That is truly charming and very courageous of you. Thank you, thank you a thousand times!” Full of gratitude, he wants to go “shake your hand, because thanks expressed in a letter are always rather cold. But I’m so busy, my mornings are so packed, that I ask you to give me a few days”… October 13. He stopped by his colleague’s office to shake his hand, but didn’t find him: “I wanted to discuss the note that appeared the day before in *Le Bien public*. I had to write a letter to put an end to the matter, and I would be sorry if that letter offended you in the slightest, for I remain deeply grateful to you. This is the situation created by the political divide: you cannot express all the praise you feel for my work, and I am not free to thank you publicly as I would like to”… Enclosed is a handwritten letter (the end is missing), dated January 29, 1876 (1 p., in-8), in which he gives a colleague his opinion on two plays, *The War of the Two Roses* and *The Honest Man in Spite of Himself*; a handwritten note; and an envelope addressed to Philippe Gille (1893).