¶La Terre, 1887. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 15th in the 'Rougon-Macquart' series. At the instigation of the National Vigilance Society and W.T. Stead, the prurient editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, Vizetelly was prosecuted for publishing and circulating this 'obscene' work. Piping Hot, and Nana were bracketed with it, and in order to secure leniency, Vizetelly had to agree to their withdrawal. In 1889 Vizetelly was prosecuted for a second time for almost every other Zola novel he had in print, some eighteen in all. He was committed for trial with respect to five, and was sentenced to three months in prison. His business ruined, and in poor health, Vizetelly retired to Surrey and died four years later. The Soil, Nana and Piping Hot! were never reissued, while other novels were subsequently published in thoroughly expurgated versions. Meanwhile, it became an offence even to possess an English translation of any of these three. The Soil, the most recently published at the time of the first prosecution, is particularly scarce. Sadleir 3388.