335 Christian St.

Philade. Penns

March 14 98

1. Emile Zola

                        Dear and Respected Sir :-

            We hope that it is not a presumption on our side to address you without having had the honor of being introduced to you. But confidently believing that the matter we wish to submit to your consideration will be of great interest to you and to our country, we have made bold to dispense with formalities.

            We have read in the newspaper columns that you are now at work on the composition of a book concerning the Dreyfus affair. As all Americans have been following with the greatest interest and sympathy the developments of the recent trial of which you have been the hero and the martyr, your forthcoming book will undoubtedly be hailed with enthusiasm and delight in the United States. Not a newspaper in this vast country, from the lowest to the highest, not a sentient human being, irrespective of party, creed or nationality, but had seen and admired he greatness and justice of the cause[d barré] espoused by you. We have therefore thought that this country is entitled to enjoy your work simultaneously with your own. Accordingly, we wish to propose to you to let me have the manuscript part by part, as soon as they come from your pen, so that we may translate it and publish it simultaneously with the original. We pledge ourselves to do all in our power to render your work faithfully and scrupulously and reproduce the original as nearly as can be done so in a translation.

            We think ourselves fully qualified for translating your book, having had a university training and having studied languages with success.       

            We have already translated Hauptmamis “Die Weber” and several minor writings which have been pronounced excellent by competent judges.

            Awaiting your favor, we are very sincerely yours

            Thomas Selzer

Myer Zaslavsky