on Japan, Dutch, and India paper. One hundredth thousand in 1893; one
hundred and thirty-fifth thousand in 1903. Illustrated edition: Marpon
and Flammarion, n. d., large 8vo, 472 pages; wood-engravings after
Duez, Rochegrosse, etc.; one hundred and fifty copies on Dutch paper
with the engravings on India paper.
[68] The story is told on the authority of Madame Charpentier, wife of
the publisher, but it is somewhat doubtful whether the lady in question
was herself, though she and her husband knew M. Lockroy as well as
Zola. If not, the intermediary may have been a lady related to a
minister whose energy made him famous during the siege of Paris. There
was such a lady who knew Zola well. English and American readers will
doubtless regard the whole affair as being "very French."
IX
THE BRITISH PHARISEES
1884-1893
First English translations of Zola--Attacks on Zola in England--The
Vizetellys, glassmakers and printers--Henry Vizetelly and his
career--His publishing business--The six-shilling novel--Ernest
Vizetelly's work for Vizetelly & Co.--His acquaintance with Zola--His
opinion of the Zola translations--He becomes reader and editor to
Vizetelly & Co.--He partially expurgates the English version of "La
Terre"--W. T. Stead solicits information from Vizetelly--The sales
of the Zola translations--The "National Vigilants"--"The Maiden
Tribute"--Publicity _v._ Secrecy--Zola's aim--Mendacity of some English
newspapers--Vizetelly's catalogue--Samuel Smith, M. P., and "pernicious
literature"--A debate in the House of Commons--More newspaper
lies--Vizetelly committed for trial--"The Decameron" prosecuted--The
Government takes up the Vizetelly prosecution--Vizetelly's letter to
Sir A. K. Stephenson--"Heaven save us from our friends!"--Vizetelly's
difficulties--His trial, October, 1888--Purity of the rural districts
of England--The case stopped--Sentence--Vizetelly's undertaking
respecting the Zola books--Zola's view of the case--Expurgation and
reissue of the translations--Vizetelly again summoned--He assigns
his property to his creditors--Mr. George Moore on the "National
Vigilants"--Mr. Frank Harris's offer--Ernest Vizetelly and the
responsibility of the new trial--Mr. Cock, Q. C.--His notion of duty to
a client--The trial, May 30, 1889--The plea of "guilty"--Vizetelly's
collapse--Sir E. Clarke and Ernest Vizetelly--Sentence on Henry
Vizetelly--He is sent to the wrong prison--The legerdemain of the
Prison Commissioners--A question for the House of Commons--A letter
from Mr. Labouchere--A memorial for Henry Vizetelly's release--Robert
Buchanan defends him--His last years and death.
The earliest versions of Zola's novels in our language offered for sale
in Great Britain were of American origin. Some American translations
are ably done--that is well known--but the particular ones here
referred to were for the most part ridiculous, full of errors, and
so defaced by excisions and alterations as to give no idea of what
the books might be like in French. There were translations of much
greater merit in Germany, Italy, and Russia, but until a Mr. Turner
produced in London a version of "Au Bonheur des Dames,"[1] the English
reader, ignorant of French, really had no opportunity of forming any
personal opinion of Zola's writings. He had to rest content with the
views expressed in various newspapers and periodicals by men who had
read Zola in the original. Among those who wrote on him in the English
reviews were Mr. Andrew Lang and Mr. Henry James, but most of the
articles that appeared were conveniently anonymous, and therefore,
perhaps, essentially abusive, as, for instance, an unsigned paper in
"Blackwood's Magazine," the writer of which, not content with attacking
Zola's books, thought it as well to libel him as a man. At long
intervals there appeared some article in his defence, some statement of
his principles and his aims, the best of these being another anonymous
paper called "The Literary Creed of Émile Zola,"[2] though even this
had a foolishly worded "note" attached to it, showing how little Zola
was understood by the average English editor. Such, then, was the
position: a dozen or more worthless American versions on the market,
and frequent attacks in reviews, magazines, and newspapers, when, in
1884, the first English series of Zola translations was begun by a
London publisher, Henry Vizetelly, who, assisted by two of his sons,
traded as "Vizetelly & Co."
Before proceeding further the writer desires to enter a plea _pro
domo sua_. He, like others, has his weak spot, and the present may
be the only opportunity he will ever have of setting forth certain
facts concerning his family, which, in spite of considerable
association with English journalism and literature, has frequently
been described--chiefly in connection with Zola and his writings--as
Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Italian, or Jewish. That the Vizetellys are
of Italian origin is indisputable, but one may well inquire how long it
takes to make a family English? Some are accepted as such after a few
years. Surely, then, four centuries ought to suffice.
The forerunners of Henry Vizetelly came from Venice[3] to England
in the spacious days of Queen Elizabeth; and until the end of the
seventeenth century were concerned in the manufacture of glass. One
of them became connected with some works established at Lambeth in or
about 1673 by George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham. The first
sheets of blown glass for mirrors and coach-windows made in Great
Britain came from those works, which Evelyn visited, as mentioned
in his "Diary" But in the early part of the eighteenth century the
Vizetellys became printers, and the family papers describe them as of
"the parish of St. Bride's in the city of London." The Vizetelly, or
Vizzetelli, of Elizabethan days having been called James (Jacopo), it
became until recent years the family rule that the eldest son of the
eldest son should bear that Christian name.
Another name, given to daughters, was the Biblical one of Mehetabel, a
survival, perhaps, of some family Puritanism in Commonwealth days. But
if there were a Puritan, there was certainly no Jewish strain in the
family, the men of which in the eighteenth century married girls with
good old English names, some of them London born and others coming from
counties as far away as Cheshire. Thus, although the Vizetellys seem
to have never forgotten their origin and to have cultivated friendship
with sundry notable Italians who settled in England, it is certain
that, as generation followed generation, English blood predominated in
their veins.
The status of the eighteenth-century Vizetellys as printers is
difficult to determine. They were apparently in fair circumstances, but
the writer knows of no eighteenth-century book bearing their imprint.
He believes they were associated in business with others whose names
alone appeared. The first found actually trading in his own name was
James Henry Vizetelly,[4] born in 1790, and son of James Vizetelly,
"printer, of St. Bride's parish and of Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn
Fields." James Henry's eldest son, James Thomas George, was apprenticed
to him as a printer; and his second son, Henry Richard, after acquiring
a knowledge of the same trade, was placed first with Bonner and
afterwards with Orrin Smith, two noted wood-engravers. He proved one of
the latter's best pupils, and ultimately joined his brother James in
the printing and engraving firm known as Vizetelly Brothers.
While thus engaged, Henry Vizetelly[5] was approached by Mr. Herbert
Ingram, a former news-agent of Nottingham, on the subject of founding
an illustrated newspaper. The outcome (1842) was "The Illustrated
London News," the first journal of its kind in any country. Vizetelly
afterwards quarrelled with Ingram, and, in 1843, in conjunction with
Mr. Andrew Spottiswoode, started an opposition paper, "The Pictorial
Times," to which some notable men, including Douglas Jerrold and
Thackeray, contributed. As, however, the printing and engraving
business which he carried on with his brother was becoming a large
one, Vizetelly eventually severed his connection with journalism for
some years, and either with his brother, or later on his own account,
produced a large number of illustrated books, which from typographical
and other technical standpoints were often among the best of their
time. He was also (this may interest American readers) the first to
introduce Poe's "Tales" and--through C. H. Clarke--Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle
Tom's Cabin," to the English public, and, having virtually discovered
Birket Foster, he also did much to popularise Longfellow in England.
Perhaps his best work as a wood-engraver was that done for the edition
of "Evangeline," illustrated with Foster's designs.
Vizetelly also took a prominent part in the agitation for the repeal of
the taxes on knowledge, such as the newspaper stamp and the paper duty,
being honorary secretary to the society for the removal of the latter
impost; and in 1855, conjointly with David Bogue, the publisher of most
of the books he printed, he started "The Illustrated Times," on the
staff of which, as had been the case with "The Pictorial Times," there
were again many notable writers and artists.[6] This newspaper ran a
very successful course for some years, but about 1860 Vizetelly--after
losing a large sum over another venture, "The Welcome Guest"--sold
his share in the proprietorship to Ingram of "The Illustrated London
News." Ultimately, in 1865, he entered into an agreement to represent
the last-named journal on the continent of Europe, with headquarters
in Paris, to which city he removed with his family. He saw virtually
all there was to be seen there during the last years of the Empire, the
subsequent siege by the Germans, and, later, the Commune. He afterwards
acted for "The Illustrated London News" as a "special" in different
parts of Europe, and became British wine juror at various international
exhibitions, for he had made a particular study of wines in the regions
where they were produced, and wrote on them at length both in "The
Pall Mall Gazette" and in a series of popular volumes. Other subjects
also attracted his pen; the best of his numerous literary efforts being
probably a work on the famous Diamond Necklace scandal, and another on
Berlin as it was when Bismarck had constituted the new German Empire.
Such, then, was the man who in 1880 joined the ranks of the London
publishers. He was at that time sixty years old but still full of
energy, and he gave great personal attention to his business, though,
as already mentioned, he had the assistance of two sons. He had been
twice married, and of a numerous family four sons and a daughter were
then living. The sons whom he had with him were the younger ones,
Arthur and Frank Vizetelly;[7] their elder brothers, then abroad, being
Edward[8] and Ernest, the present writer, who for convenience proposes
to refer to himself by his Christian name throughout this particular
narrative.
One of the first ventures of the new business, a series of sketches of
English society, entitled "The Social Zoo," and published in parts,
was badly launched and dropped before completion, but some sections
of it, by E. C. Grenville-Murray, attracted great attention and sold
widely on being reissued in volume form. Sala's "Paris Herself Again"
and other books were also very successful, but when Vizetelly--who by
reason of his long residence in Paris took great interest in French
literature--produced a series of cheap translations of works of
high repute in France--novels and tales by Daudet, Theuriet, About,
Malot, Cherbuliez, George Sand, Mérimée, and others--there was little
or no demand for them, though a large amount of money was spent in
advertisements. Indeed it soon appeared that if French fiction was to
be offered to English readers at all it must at least be sensational;
and Vizetelly therefore started a cheap series of Gaboriau's detective
stories, which found a large and immediate market. The business
gradually expanded, and before long, in addition to miscellaneous works
by Sala, Grenville-Murray, and others, the firm took up English fiction
in a new form.
Mr. George Moore, the novelist, having found the circulating libraries
opposed to some of his books, protested vigorously against the
three-volume system which placed English fiction at the libraries'
mercy. He held that all novels ought to be sold direct to the public,
and many other writers agreed with him. Mr. Moore became one of
Vizetelly & Co.'s authors, and the firm thereupon put the theory
of direct sale to the public into practice. They abandoned the
three-volume system altogether, issuing their new novels in one volume
only, and it was Henry Vizetelly who fixed the price at six shillings,
to be lowered, after the earlier editions, to three shillings and
sixpence--those being the figures which still prevail to-day. When
therefore in later years the three-volume novel was finally slain
it was somewhat impudent on the part of certain publishers to issue
advertisements claiming all the merit of the change; for long before
they or others joined the movement, Vizetelly & Co., as their
catalogues show, were issuing a whole series of novels at the popular
price, and quoting, in cordial approval of their initiative, an extract
from an article in "The Saturday Review." Doubtless the one-volume
system has not done all that was predicted for it, but it has certainly
been an improvement on the old one, and it may be fairly claimed that
Mr. George Moore and Henry Vizetelly were its pioneers.
After the establishment of his publishing business, Vizetelly had
communicated with his son Ernest,[9] who was then living in Paris
and had friends and acquaintances among writers, publishers, and
booksellers there. Several suggestions which he made in the course
of the next few years were adopted by the firm. However the idea of
publishing English translations of Zola's works did not originate
with him. As a journalist he had to keep himself informed respecting
everything that occurred in Paris; and he was fairly familiar with
what had been done, written, and said there over a long term of years,
particularly as even in his school-days he had begun to assist his
father as a newspaper correspondent. Thus he was already acquainted
with the salient features of Zola's career, the novelist's long and
arduous battle for mastery. He had not read all the Rougon-Macquart
volumes then published, but he had followed the exponent of Naturalism
in his various newspaper campaigns, and he had seen most of the plays
based on his books. Again, he was the only member of his family who, at
that time, had ever met the novelist. Not long after the Franco-German
War Zola had been pointed out to him by an artist as "the man who had
championed Manet"; and since then Vizetelly had seen and elbowed him on
various occasions in places of public resort. But only once had there
been any real conversation between them, in the presence of others, at
the Théâtre des Folies-Bergère, with which Vizetelly had been for a
time connected.[10]
It may be added that Vizetelly's life in France had inclined him
to the outspokenness of the French, and that experience had shown
him there was much rottenness in Parisian society. Thus he had no
personal prejudice against Zola's writings, which contained, he knew,
a vast amount of truth. But he also knew, likewise by experience,
that whenever any horrible scandal arose in Paris, the English
newspapers would only print a small portion of the truth, and he, as
a correspondent, was thus often debarred from making a plain statement
of facts of general interest, such as sometimes affected the moral
status of men of very high position. Moreover, although Vizetelly had
left England in his boyhood, and in subsequent years had only now and
again spent a few days or weeks there (apart from one sojourn of about
twelve months' duration), his own work, and the frequent perusal of
English books and publications had kept him to a certain point in touch
with his kinsfolk. And, so far as he could judge, English literature,
like English journalism, was under the thumb of Mrs. Grundy. He had
seen no sign indicating that Naturalism would even secure a hearing in
England. When, therefore, in 1884, he suddenly heard that Vizetelly &
Co. were about to produce "L'Assommoir" and "Nana" in an English dress,
it seemed to him that the firm was taking an audacious course, and he
did not hesitate to write and say so. He was answered, that, being
resident abroad, he did not fully understand the position, and, as some
difficulty had arisen with the translation of "L'Assommoir," he was
asked to translate a small portion of it, some chapter towards the end
of the book, which he did. That, for the time, was the extent of his
share in the Zola translations.
The idea of publishing those translations originated, then, with Henry
Vizetelly, unless, indeed, it was suggested to him by somebody else. In
1885 his son Ernest, on going to London, found the firm doing a large
and increasing business. In addition to French and English writers,
several Russian authors, Tolstoï, Dostoieffsky, and Lermontoff,--who
were followed a little later by Gogol,--had been added to the firm's
catalogue. A series of reprints of the old dramatists, the well-known
"Mermaid Series," was being projected;[11] and the Zola translations,
so far as they then went, were in wide demand. This surprised Ernest
Vizetelly, whose anticipations had been so different. But he yielded to
evidence, and even began to think that there was at last some prospect
of English people dropping the hypocrisy which had clung to them so
long and looking unpleasant facts in the face.
He returned to Paris, where he remained till 1887, when various reasons
induced him to take up his residence in London. He had married some
years previously, and though his wife was French he particularly
desired that his children should retain his nationality. Moreover, he
now had the offer of a great deal of work from his father, who was
projecting various reprints of French eighteenth-century books, as
well as expensive and sumptuous editions of "The Heptameron," "The
Decameron," and the works of Rabelais. Some thousands of pounds were
spent on those undertakings, but only the first-named eventually saw
the light.[12] Arriving in London, Ernest Vizetelly became one of
the readers and editors of his father's firm, but for one reason or
another he still had little to do with the Zola translations. His
father contemplating a new edition of the Gramont Memoirs, he revised
the translation alleged to have been edited by Sir Walter Scott, and
corrected some scores of errors which he found in it. For the rest,
his time was largely spent in researches respecting the proposed
version of "The Heptameron," of which he was editor.
Meanwhile Vizetelly & Co. were still issuing translations of modern
French fiction, and Mr. George Moore, having occasion to go to Paris,
spoke on the firm's behalf to Zola respecting "La Terre," which book
the novelist was then preparing. An arrangement was made for the sale
of the British rights to Vizetelly & Co., who then knew virtually
nothing of the work, apart from the fact that it would deal with the
French peasantry. Some time afterwards, however, Zola supplied a brief
outline of his book in a letter which has been already quoted.[13]
Then various delays ensued, several months elapsing before proofs of
the earlier chapters were forwarded to Vizetelly & Co. Those proofs
were handed to a translator with whom some difficulty arose, in such
wise that they were transferred to another, and Ernest Vizetelly
was requested to read and check the English proofs, a task which he
occasionally undertook in connection with various translations. He was
immediately struck by the boldness of Zola's story, which seemed to
surpass in outspokenness any of the novelist's previous works. And at
the very outset he deemed certain excisions and alterations advisable.
For instance, he found one of the characters, Hyacinthe Fouan,
called by the nickname of "Jesus Christ," and afflicted with a nasty
infirmity. The nickname did not particularly surprise him, for during
the many years he had spent in Paris, he had known more than one young
artist cultivating, notably as regards hair and beard, a resemblance
to the traditional portraits of the Christ, and going by that nickname
both in the studios and the cafés frequented by artists. It seemed to
him quite possible that Zola had found it among the peasantry whom he
described. But, however that might be, Vizetelly felt that the nickname
would give offence to English readers, and so he did not hesitate
to expunge it from the proofs submitted to him. He felt also, that
although Hyacinthe's infirmity might be true to life, it would also
give offence to people who no longer read Sterne, and who knew little
or nothing of Rabelais. Accordingly expurgation again ensued.
But as successive instalments of the proofs reached Ernest Vizetelly,
he found in them a good deal of matter, which in his opinion needed
"toning" for the English reader. And he was confronted by a difficulty
which pursued him subsequently when he himself translated some of
Zola's works; that is to say, the French proofs arrived in sections,
the translation was supplied in the same manner, and it was therefore
difficult to determine what incidents and facts might be really
essential, and how far expurgation might be carried without rendering
the book unintelligible. Vizetelly spoke on the matter to one of his
brothers, and ultimately he put the work on one side, deciding to wait
for its completion. Considerable delay ensued in the publication of
the translation. Meantime, towards the close of 1887, the original
work appeared in Paris, and was virulently attacked by Zola's enemies;
while a rumour, subsequently contradicted, spread to the effect that
translations had been stopped in various countries. It therefore seemed
advisable to proceed cautiously. Finally the matter was laid before
Henry Vizetelly, the proofs of the English version were examined from
beginning to end, and in conjunction with his son Ernest, he struck
out or modified a very large number of passages, with the result that
much of the work had to be reimposed. It may be said, then, that the
translation as published was undoubtedly an expurgated one.